Howdy Doody

The Geppetto Project

Chapters 35-36

Chapter Thirty Five

Over the river and through the woods…

As the boys swam in the cove, Adam packed as quickly as he could for the overnight hike that was about to take place. With Spencer and Anthony up in Boston to discuss Spencer's plastic surgery, Adam's mind was elsewhere thinking about those who went with the boy. three key members of the Green Tree staff were now gone including Sid, Thomas and Jeanette. Now Adam would be out of camp on an overnight leaving Bert, Dave and Gloria as the only Administrators left to watch over a camp of 600 men, women and children. It was not the best time for him to be taking this hike, but there was no way out of going without disappointing the three cabins of campers that made up the mafia.

Bert's arrival in the cove was heard long before he was seen. Everyone in camp could identify the sound of the Duisenberg's horn. The appearance of "Mr. Magoo." as the cart was known raised the noise level coming from Turtle Rock which was now brimming with almost four dozen campers decked out in their birthday suits playing "King of the Rock."

Almost before the cart stopped in front of Beachview cabin, Christopher's feet hit the ground running. The special needs boys two chaperones, Robin and Stephanie, now scrambled after him to put on his swim vest before he ventured into deep water. Bert watched smiling as the 13 and 14 year old girls caught up with him just before he got to neck high depth.

"That was close," Adam said as he watched from the front porch.

Bert smiled.

"They'll learn; Jill and Claire would have had the vest on before we got halfway off the hill," Bert said as he mounted the stairs.

"How's everything going up on the hill?" Adam now asked.

"No problem. Patty and Helen are going to stay close to Camp Kenny until Jeanette returns and they have Gloria and the senior girls as a back up," Bert said.

"You all set to go?" he now asked. Adam shook his head.

"This isn't the best time to be leaving," he said as the two men entered the cabin.

"I've asked Charlie to stay here overnight and fill in for you until you get back. If anything serious occurs, you'll be brought back here, but I'm sure we'll keep the Intermediate's busy enough to keep them out of trouble," Bert replied as he searched for some tonic water.

"All packed?" Kevin asked as the screen door slammed behind him.

"Just about. How many spare batteries did you bring? I only have one box," Adam asked the Senior Counselor.

"Two, and I think Etienne has two more," Kevin replied.

"Think ten dozen batteries will hold us overnight?" Adam asked.

"It should; we've got 35 kids, five senior boys, and four staff. That's almost three complete refills per kid!" Kevin replied. Bert shook his head.

"Maybe it's time we started to make these kids buy their own batteries at the commissary; that'll slow things down," he said.

"What about dinner?" Bert now asked.

"John is sending out Beef stew, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs and watermelon to Indiantown. It'll be there when we get there," Adam replied.

"He's also sending out bacon and eggs for breakfast."

Bert nodded his head.

"There's a front moving up from the Gulf so you might get a little wet." he now said. Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay behind and look after things?" Kevin asked Adam.

"He's only trying to scare you," Adam told the man.

"How are the twins reacting to Doctor Lester's departure?" Bert now asked.

"No visible problems, but then again, they've been kept so busy since he left, I don't think they've had any time to think about it," Kevin replied as he looked out the screen door at the two eight year olds sitting in a sunken canoe paddling around the rock with their hands.

"Has everybody been told they're minnows? Bert asked as he looked out also. Kevin watched the boys as he smiled.

"Minnows" was a camp term for a child who had just learned to swim.

"There's probably close to four dozen pairs of eyes watching them right now!" Kevin told the Director.

"They're safe." Adam told the Director.

"What's the plan concerning the hike?" Bert now asked Adam.

"We'll be taking the Orange Trail to Indiantown and probably the Grey Trail back to camp tomorrow. If our plans change, we'll call them in," Adam replied.

"That's a good five mile [8 km] hike!" Bert said.

"Just enough to burn a ton of energy from eight to 13 year olds," Adam replied.

"And just enough to completely wear out 46 year olds!" Kevin quickly added. Bert and Adam chuckled a bit.

"Have you packed a wheel chair?" Bert asked Adam.

"No, we figure if he completely falls apart, one of the senior boys will give up his horse and bring Grandpa back to camp," Adam said. Kevin shook his head, but remained silent.

Out on the lake, fairly routine mayhem greeted Christopher as the boy doggy paddled out to Turtle Rock which effectively ended the game the campers were playing. The special needs boy didn't have the capacity to understand the rules of games like Tag, Hide and Seek or King of the Rock, so when he came around, those type's of games had to be suspended or Christopher's attention diverted elsewhere.

"Truce!" Trevor called out as Christopher tried to scramble up onto the ledge.

Now wearing the special life vest that Dan had made him, Christopher made several attempts to climb onto the rock as his belly refused to cooperate. Bert watched from the cabin as two boys on the rock and two in the water finally landed the boy like a beached whale upon Turtle Rock as Christopher giggled with delight. Once back on his feet, the boy headed directly for the diving boards he knew to be on the other side of the rock.

Choosing the board that was lowest to the water, Christopher walked out onto the board.

"Wait Christopher, I gotta jump into the water first!" 10 year old Matty said to the boy. Oblivious to protocol, Christopher walked out to the end of the board and held out his hands to Matty "Want to bounce?" Matty asked the boy as he took both hands into his.

"Hey!" Christopher chirped as he started to bounce up and down to get the board to move. Now intently watching to make sure Christopher's both feet stayed on the bouncing board, Matty used his weight to get the boy bouncing up a foot or two into the air before he returned to the board and was lifted up once again in fits of giggles and joy.

"Want to go diving?" Matty now asked the boy after a minute or so.

"Hey!" replied the boy once again as Matty got in back of Christopher at the end of the board.

"Count to three Christopher." Matty told the boy as he held him under the arm pits.

"Uh, oh, re!" Christopher said as he counted with his fingers as Matty lifted Christopher up and jumped in with the boy feet first. Coming back up to the surface, Matty was wise enough to keep a small distance from the boy who now would have tried to attach himself to his swimming partner and use him as a float.

Swimming over to a swamped rowboat, Matty dipped the side of the boat underwater as Christopher now slid over the side and sat down on the seat of the boat as Matty brought it back flat to the surface. With Robin and Stephanie now swimming over to Christopher, Matty figured it was time for him to return to the rock. Christopher had other ideas as he balked every time Matty attempted to leave. Realizing he had very few choices, Matty resigned himself to the inevitable and pulled himself into the rowboat with Christopher while the two girls served as the "Motor" pushing the boat around the cove.

Watching all the action in the cove was Etienne and Greg. Both Junior Counselors were now well aware that they were responsible for the only three campers in the entire camp who could not swim, or were mere beginners, Christopher, Gavin and Benji. They were also well aware that the Director of camp was most probably watching their every move from Beachview cabin, just a few hundred feet away. Because the cove contained these three boys, it also now contained a Senior Life Guard who was posted to watch these specific boys.

For the mafia, having the Senior Life Guard in the cove was a double edged sword: On the one hand, they might be able to beg a ride on the Jet Ski that the life guard was sitting on. On the other hand, life guards could be one big pain in the ass when it came to sticking to the "Buddy System" and blowing a whistle every 10 minutes or so which stopped all the fun until the life guard was satisfied nobody was lying on the bottom of the lake. Naturally, the boys in the mafia considered it all a big waste of fun time since they all swam like fish.

"Who's your Buddy Chris?" The life guard asked a 10 year old who had his arm raised up in the air.

"Matty," the boy replied as he looked around.

"Matty's in the rowboat with Christopher!" Etienne told him. The guard looked towards the rowboat which held the two boys as Matty held his hand up.

"Matty's new Buddy is Christopher. Chris, find another set of Buddy's until Matty comes back," he told the boys.

"Anybody else missing a Buddy?" he asked. Hearing nothing, the life guard blew his whistle as the boys now resumed play. Like Etienne and Gregory, he too knew who was probably watching him from Beachview.

As Return to Quarters blew, a mass exodus from the cove took place a lot faster than normal. Usually, it took 10 minutes or so before the campers had given up the water to return to their cabins for showers and to get prepared for dinner, but on this afternoon, the water was cleared within two minutes. Like a stampede of elephant's, most of the boys headed for Beachview knowing that Bert was inside the cabin.

"We're going on a over night hike Uncle Bert, can you come with us?" Sammy asked the Director as the boy jumped into Bert's lap. Bert looked into the boys face and smiled remembering the fragile little homesick child that he had first met some six year's earlier.

Now one of the spunkiest boys on the Intermediate Campus, Sammy had grown physically, emotionally, and psychologically into what could only be described as a poster child for raising children successfully; but for being a Geppetto boy, he was the kid down the block.

"I wish I could Scooter, but with Uncle Sid gone, I have to stay here at camp," Bert told the boy as he gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Maybe next time," he said Sammy now looked towards his counselor.

"When is next time Uncle Adam?" he asked. Adam shook his head.

"Let's get through this time before we start working towards the next hike," Adam replied as he packed up some rain ponchos.

Afternoon showers were always a very noisy affair, but because of the impending hike it was a tad noisier. That, plus the fact that Christopher was in attendance in the showers served to create additional mayhem as the boy carried one of the cocker spaniels into the showers with him. Luckily for the dog, both he and his sister spent a large part of their day in the lake, and going into the showers was not all that unusual for them either. As the dog played catch with a ball and barked away, his sister joined them with Christopher screeching away to cheer the dogs on.

"The good news is that we won't be sleeping here tonight and so I won't have to clean up this mess," Adam said as he walked out onto the front porch and sat down next to Bert and Kevin as the sounds of a mini war echoed in the background. After probably 10 minutes, both Robin and Stephanie appeared on the front porch with towels wrapped around their upper bodies.

"How are things going up there?" Adam asked the girls.

"We wouldn't go up there Uncle Adam, those boys get crazy in the showers!" Robin replied as she sat down and began drying her hair. All three men now laughed.

"We took a shower downstairs. That way, they can run around with all the boners they want to!" Robin said.

"But you wash Christopher don't you?" Adam now asked.

"Sure, but he only gets a boner if he has to go pee. He doesn't have sword fights and stuff." Robin replied. Bert now nodded.

"We all know Intermediate boys are a little spicier than Camp Kenny boys, but it's not like they'll try to jump your bones," he told the girls.

"No, but still Uncle Bert, it's obnoxious when they stand there and wave their dick's at us. And, we're gonna tell Aunt Helen what you just said!" Stephanie replied indignantly.

"OK, you tell Aunt Helen I said "Bones" and I'll tell her you said "Dick's" Bert told the girls as Adam and Kevin chuckled.

"There were no brushes in the bathroom Uncle Adam, do you have any?" Robin asked once the giggling slowed down. Reaching over, Adam picked up two hair brushes and held them out to the girls.

"Carla and Jeannie will be down shortly to get their hair brushed out, but you can use these for now," he said.

"You brush out their hair?" Stephanie asked as she took the brush.

"Sure! Doesn't Uncle Bert brush yours out?" Adam asked. Both girls looked at each other and smiled.

"He brushes out Aunt Helen's hair sometimes but he's usually gone by the time we take showers." Robin replied as both girls giggled once again.

"I'm the Director of this place; not Bruce the Hairdresser!" Bert replied as Adam and Kevin looked at their boss.

The arrival on the porch of Carla and Jeannie a few minutes later signaled the beginning of some close scrutiny of the two mafia muppets by both Robin and Stephanie.

All four girls had grown up together at their old School in Montana, but for the past 9 months or so, the two 11 year olds now lived with Adam and his boys in Beachview Cabin while Robin and Stephanie lived with their counselors, Helen and Bert.

The 13 and 14 year old Robin and Stephanie still considered Carla and Jeannie the "Babies" of their old group, something Carla and Jeannie didn't want to hear about.

They were now fully accepted members of the mafia, and were "One of the gang" in their minds. There was genuine love for each other among the four girls, but Carla and Jeannie were bucking for independence at a rate not appreciated by the older girls.

After very casual "Hello's", Carla headed for Adam while Jeannie took a seat on Kevin's lap. Uncrossing Adam's legs without comment, Carla plunked herself down on Adam's lap and sat back waiting for the brushing to commence.

"Jeannie has underpants on Carla. Why don't you have a pair on?" Stephanie asked the girl. Carla looked down on her naked body.

"Jeannie gots her period so she gotta wear pants." Carla replied. Adam smiled slightly as he shook his head and watched Stephanie get a little pink in the face.

"Carla means Jeannie has her period, not "Gots". Right Carla?" Adam asked the girl on his lap.

"Sure!" Carla replied with an innocent smile. Adam once more shook his head knowing the battle over the English language was far from over.

Both Robin and Stephanie now looked at each other somewhat exasperated.

"Aunt Helen wouldn't like it if she knew you were running around naked!" Robin now told the girl.

"I ain't runnin around; I'm sitting here on the porch. We're allowed to be naked in the cabin, ain't we Uncle Adam?" "But we're not in the cabin!" Stephanie replied.

"Sure we are! The porch is part of the cabin, and that means we're in the cabin. Right Uncle Adam?" Carla responded.

"Besides, everybody knows what our pussy's look like!"

"Uncle Bert!" Stephanie implored the Director. Bert now joined Adam in shaking his head. The Director didn't want to interfere with the older girl's protective dominance over their younger peers, nor did he want the younger girls to ignore the senior girl's concerns and advice. His job was to keep both factions content.

"You are both right, Green Tree frowns on nudity in public places, but the cabins are not a public place. You two could also find less colorful words to describe your bodies to other people when you know very well it will make them uncomfortable," Bert told Carla and Jeannie.

"Who's the stupid idiot that decided to call my pussy a vagina? It don't look like no vagina to me!" Carla replied as she looked down at her body.

With the exception of Jeannie who now leaned forward and opened the front of her underpants and looked down, the rest of the group on the porch shook their bowed heads except for Kevin.

"Actually, it's a Latin word which means sheath or scabbard. A scabbard is what a soldier puts his sword into," he said.

There was a few seconds of silence as Carla studied Kevin's words.

"Oh, I get it!" she finally replied.

"So what does "Penis" mean?" Jeannie now asked.

"Again, it has a Latin root. It comes from the word "Penetrate" which means "To enter". Kevin replied.

"That makes sense!" Carla said as she and Jeannie looked at each other smiling broadly.

"Maybe we need to switch Kevin from Music teacher to Anatomy?" Adam now asked Bert who simply smiled.

As the minutes went by, more and more boys exited the cabin in various degrees of dress from some still completely naked, to those fully dressed and ready for the hike. The days had long since passed when the eight to 13 year old boys who now assembled on the porch would react to the presence of the two senior girls in their midst. For one, they knew the girls to be the chaperone's of Christopher, and therefore were quite well aware of what a boys penis looked like, albeit a very small one. They were also quite use to being around the girls who worked around the Camp Kenny children who were usually either dressed or undressed, generally the latter. Additionally, having Carla and Jeannie living amongst themselves took the great mystery away from what a girl looked like; if they had any desire to explore further, they never heard any complaints from either girl. An hour earlier, it might well have been a different story, but after afternoon showers and playtime upstairs, limp biscuits were the only sights to be seen since thoughts of the impending hike were much more important.

Both Robin and Stephanie watched but said nothing as the boys sat around the porch air drying, or down on the grass in front of the cabin. The arrival of Christopher on the front porch with both dogs eagerly following him now had Robin and Stephanie scrambling to locate towels to dry off the dripping wet boy. Tolerating the drying off for about a minute, Christopher then signed for a drink.

"Rink?" he looked up and asked Stephanie.

"Come on Christopher. We'll get you a drink and then we'll put some clothes on." Robin said as she took the boy by the hand.

Carla watched the three go into the cabin as Adam finished putting her hair in braids.

"If they didn't love you and care about you, they wouldn't care if you never wore a piece of clothing," Adam told the girl as he kissed the girl on the side of her head.

"What's the big deal about clothing?" the girl asked as she wiggled her way off Adam's lap.

"Some people equate being clothed with security and keeping certain things private. Other's see them as being grown up and mature," Adam replied.

"I don't see nothin wrong with being nakey!" Carla told her counselor.

"Neither do I!" Adam replied as he patted the girl on her bottom.

"Now go get dressed for the hike or the mosquito's will," he said as Carla giggled.

Afternoon Flagpole was announced as the bugler blew Assembly. Gathering up their backpacks and walking sticks, the mafia now all trudged down to the flag pole as the rest of the campus listened to the evenings schedule for those who remained behind at camp.

With the smell of roast beef and fresh bread emanating from the Mess Hall, Adam and Kevin looked at each silently. They would eat a savory and hearty beef stew cooked by the kitchen for dinner, but not until after a two hour, two mile [3 km] hike through the woods.

After the usual tug of war between Christopher and the boys who lowered the Camp Flag and the Honor Cabin's Flag, Mess Call blew as the mafia all headed straight for the woods and the trail leading up to the stables where they would join the senior boys escorting them on horseback.

With big, happy, smiling faces, most staff walked up the slight hill to the Mess Hall while most of the boys remaining behind looked forlornly at their friends now skipping into the woods.

"It must have something to do with the energy of youth," Bert said as he watched while holding Christopher on his hip. Adam smiled but said nothing as he got into his cart for the short hop up the hill.

The staging area for the hike was the stables and as the mafia now stood around and sprayed each other with bug repellant, Adam pulled up to the corral as the senior boys loaded the pack horses with gear.

"The kitchen will be sending out dinner and breakfast Uncle Adam. It will be in the storage shed and ice box by the time we get there. Uncle John's still cooking the stew." 14 year old Jerry said. Adam thanked the boy and looked over to the boy next to him, another 14 year old.

"Don't I know those boys?" Adam asked Kevin as the two men now brought more supplies over to be loaded onto the pack horses.

"They live with Jesse now in Charlie's cabin. Remember the two boys who almost got shipped off to New Mexico with the Albemarle staff member who was into S&M?" Kevin asked.

"Those were 12 year olds!" Adam said. Kevin nodded his head.

"That was two years ago!" he told his friend. Adam looked once again towards the boys.

"They've changed," Adam said.

"When's the last time you looked at a two year old picture of the boys in Beachview?" Kevin asked with a smile.

"They don't stay young forever. Every now and then take a look at those pictures. It'll remind you that they're not little children anymore. It would be nice if they were, but we're really only fooling ourselves," Kevin said.

There were several reasons the boys loved going on overnight hikes. While they prefer to go on horseback overnights whenever possible, a walking overnight still comes with sleeping outdoors, campfires, "Hunting" for whatever animal hasn't been scared by the noise and run five miles [8 km] away, outdoor cooking and most especially, "Trail mix" which was energy food for the hike whether they were doing the walking or the horses were. Trail mix is a mixture of dried fruit, raisons, peanuts and chocolate. The hike also came with granola bars as well as a pretty good assortment of candy bars, mostly chocolate.

Since candy was a rare treat at Green Tree, scheduling a hike for the boys is a very high priority.

"Did Uncle John send enough Trail Mix Uncle Adam?" Sammy asked as he and Joey and Trevor searched through the supplies for any signs of a box of three Musketeers or Hershey bars.

"Yes, the senior boys have plenty and they know when to distribute them," Adam replied.

"We got knap sacks; we can carry them in there." Trevor suggested hopefully. Adam and Kevin smiled.

"It's a long way to Indiantown; Uncle John thinks it would be better if you didn't eat all your energy food before you left the stables," Adam replied.

"No fair!" all three boys said as they walked away.

By 5:30 or so, the boys were heading into the woods with their escorts of senior boys on horseback. With a walking stick in one hand and a flashlight in the other lighting the way, the boys headed for the Orange Trail as Adam adjusted his sunglasses and hoped he had enough spare batteries.

As usual and not unexpectedly, the very beginning of the hike was more like a footrace than a two mile [3 km] hike to see who would lead the mafia on the trail. Knowing this in advance, the senior boys always set the pace of the trip, and with a 16 year old guiding a pack horse for the first few hundred yards, the boys followed behind like a pack of hungry wolves. Within a few minutes, the mafia became more interested in looking for the stray bird, rabbit, squirrel, chipmunk, turtle, salamander or deer that would have had to have been deaf to still be in the neighborhood, or even the State.

In between the hunt the boys were now on, their usual game of tree identification began as the boys picked a leaf off a tree or bush and, if they couldn't identify it themselves, brought it to Etienne to identify. As the Junior Counselor in Bay Watch, the 24 year old French Canadian had arrived at Green Tree as a four year old Geppetto boy who now had spent almost his entire life in these woods. He knew just about every one of the roughly 300 different species of trees, bushes and plants. By age 14, he was officially appointed Green Trees Nature Counselor.

As with Dave, the man was self taught, preferring not to go to College. Nevertheless, the man had few peers when it came to nature, the environment and animal husbandry.

If you had a question about a rock, a sea shell or creature, a plant, or an animal that you came into contact with either at Camp or at School in Florida, Etienne had the answer faster than a Ph.D. from Florida Ag. & Tech.

At 24 years old, the man could easily have been given his own Cabin as Senior Counselor but preferred to stay on with Dan as his Junior Counselor which actually worked out perfectly since Dan, as the Water Front Director and Water Safety Instructor of Green Tree was very rarely with his cabin of a dozen boys during the day. Rather shy and retiring around his peers; he was anything but with the boys in his care.

As Adam walked with Kevin and watched as the boys approached the counselor with a leaf or wildflower to identify, he remembered the conversation he had had one evening with Sid concerning Etienne.

"Probably one day when we're least expecting it, Etienne will unfold his wings and fly away ready to go off on his own. He's very comfortable where he is right now and neither Bert nor I are ready to kick him out of the nest. There are some assholes out there who would probably diagnose him as having "Arrested development" but those are the same shitheads who suggest that six month olds should be potty trained," Sid told Adam.

"We don't really give a fuck what the "Expert's" say and think, we do things our way," Sid concluded.

Adam now watched the interaction between the boys and their counselor. Few teachers ever know or experience the same amount of love and respect now showing on the boy's faces. Etienne was not only smart as far as the boys were concerned; he was one of them.

"It's a Beech leaf." Etienne told a group of boys huddled around him.

"The Indians used to chew the leaves to make their breath smell nice," he told the boys.

"What did they do that for?" Matty and Chris asked.

"I guess if they expected to sleep with their squaw, it was necessary," he told the boys who now looked at each other and giggled.

By 7:30 or so the group reached the overnight campsite they knew as "Indiantown." Camp folklore lore was that the place was used by the local Indians a few century's back during forays into the deep woods on hunting trips. It was a great story that held the fancy of the eight to 13 year old Intermediate boys, but had little to do with reality.

The site was made from scratch 15 years earlier by Dave and the Senior boys and was just one more "Incentive" for the Camp Kenny boys to "Graduate" and be big enough to sleep in the woods. For the little ones, Camp Kenny was an extremely comfortable place for them to leave behind, and it took more than a few "Bribes" to get them to give up their security blanket of camp life and most especially, their female caregivers. Now, with the exception of the twin's who had very recently arrived at Green Tree, these boys were enjoying the fruits of their decision to leave Camp Kenny behind them.

Not unexpectedly, Adam and Kevin entered the campsite after most of the mafia had already abandoned their clothing and were playing and splashing in the stream and swimming hole that meandered through the center of the encampment of lean-to's and picnic tables. Two huge iron cooking pots hung over the glowing embers as the beef stew and macaroni and cheese simmered slowly. Adam smiled deeply.

"It's not exactly roughing it," he said as he looked down at the marks made in the ground by the four wheelers that had delivered the food and supplies to the encampment less than a half hour earlier.

"Since I don't see any air conditioners and screening surrounding these lean-to's, it most certainly is!" Kevin now replied as he took off his knap sack and placed it on a table.

Dinner for the mafia came as the final rays of the setting sun filtered though the tops of the trees. With 45 people eating who had just walked a little more than two miles [3 km] though the woods, 10 gallons [40 l] of beef stew, five gallons [20 l] of macaroni and cheese, two cases of milk and six dozen fresh rolls disappeared in record time. Once the empty pots and dishes were placed in the storage shed, distribution of the sleeping bags, pillows and blankets had the boys ready for sleep, but not before another swim in the stream, and then some foraging through the now dark woods for whatever animal stupid enough to still be on the mountain.

With the camp fire now springing to life, the boys scoured the woods and gathered whatever firewood they could find. Adam and the staff settled down to quietly observe the boys knowing it was going to be hours before any of them willingly chose to lie down and close their eyes. The lone exception was Jeannie as the 11 year old girl walked over to Adam who was sitting with Kevin sipping on their beer.

"Don't feel well?" Adam asked as the girl snuggled herself down in his lap and propped herself against Adam's chest.

"My tummy doesn't feel good. I still got my period." The girl said. Adam smiled as he kissed the back of her head.

"Maybe somebody ate a little too much," he said as he reached his free hand around and massaged the girls abdomen.

It was impossible to tell if the girls abdomen was bloated or simply stuffed full of food. In either case, the little girl was fast asleep within a few minutes as Adam continued to massage her.

"What's Bert going to do when the two of them reach Senior status? Are they going to remain with the boys in the Senior boys compound or be housed with the girls on Pine Ridge?" Kevin asked as he looked at the sleeping child.

"The subject has never been addressed as far as I know," Adam replied as he pressed his nose into her hair.

"They've got two years before we come to that point, they might decide to rejoin the girls before that. I'm sure if they're still with the boys, Gloria's going to have a lot to say about the subject. Somehow, I can't imagine she's going to be too willing to see two very active adolescent girls surrounded by a few dozen adolescent boys," Adam said.

"What about Charlie's girlfriend? She's living with the Senior boys," Kevin replied.

"It's my understanding that she's the exception, not the rule," Adam replied.

"She's also not romping with all the boys, she's exclusively Charlie's," Adam said.

Somewhere close to 11:00, Adam decided that his night was over as the senior boys, Greg and Etienne kept tabs on those boys who were still up and active. Picking Jeannie up, Adam put the girl down on the table as he changed her underpants and put on a fresh panty liner.

"If somebody told me two years ago I'd be changing a girl's sanitary napkins, I'd have had them committed!" Adam said as he shook his head and pulled the girls underpants up.

"That's OK. If somebody told me two years ago that I'd be sleeping in the woods and pissing on a tree, I'd have had them committed!" Kevin replied as he zipped his shorts up.

Adam's night began with Jeannie sleeping soundly next to him, and somewhere around midnight, he was joined by Sammy, Carla, Joey and Trevor. It was a clear starlit night with the temperature somewhere around 60 [15°C ] or so and Adam slept on extremely well right up until the rain came somewhere around 4:00 in the morning. The downpour continued until dawn with the six people in his lean-to now huddled as deeply into the shelter as they could squeeze. With a mosquito buzzing for a landing somewhere very close to his ear, it was fair to say that Adam didn't sleep all that comfortably.

Up in Boston, no one was squeezed into the Suites at the Charles Hotel. Kenny usually awoke with the arrival of the sun and today was no different as the boy now scrambled on top of Jeanette and latched onto her breast for breakfast. Pulling a piece of dry sheet over the boys soggy ass, Jeanette kissed the child's head as he drew in his caretaker's warm sweet milk.

"Good morning pookey." The girl said as she now combed the boys long curly hair with her fingers.

"He's awake already?" Spencer asked as he slid into bed with Jeanette. Jeanette smiled at Spencer who now slid himself next to her and rested his head on her side as he watched the younger child nurse.

"He thinks I'm going to drink his milk!" Spencer said as Kenny looked at Spencer warily and placed his small hand on top of Jeanette's right breast.

"He's just making sure he has it in reserve." The girl told Spencer as she giggled a little. Spencer was in a playful mood and now lifted up his head and kissed the top of the child's hand.

"Mine?" he asked the three ˝ year old. Kenny never fully gave up his caretaker's breast as his eyebrows frowned.

"Mine!" he firmly gurgled as a few drops of milk now trickled down the side of Jeanette's breast. Jeanette now patted the boy on his rear.

"Your Brother is only teasing you. He knows that my milk belongs to Kenny," she said as she kissed the boy on his head.

By the time Jeanette took a shower with Kenny, Spencer awoke Anthony for their shower together, Sid, Barry and Jesse were up and showered and joined them for morning coffee. Thomas and his Brother's joined them right around 7:30 which left only the Nephews and David still not heard from.

With more than a little bit of coaxing needed, Sid finally convinced Jesse and Spencer to knock on the door to rally David for the day. Knocking on the adjoining door and hearing no response, the boys walked into the Suite to hear all four boys already up and in the shower.

"David?" Jesse called out as both boys stood by the closed bathroom door.

"Come on in!" David exclaimed.

If there was a difference between Green Tree boys and the Nephew's, neither Spencer nor Jesse knew what it was as the door was opened by 9 year old Richard who stood there dripping wet with an erection that screamed for attention. When it comes to evaluating a penis's potential for having fun, Geppetto boys have a leg up on normal boys, but you would have to be Little Stevie Wonder to have mis diagnosed Richard's state of readiness as his small, but perfectly shaped circumcised penis stood straight out from his groin. Decidedly pink in color, the shaft glistened from the water, as his perfectly shaped mushroom head stood out almost cherry red as his testicles clung to his abdomen not sure whether to duck inside if they senseD a chill or dance around in his scrotum if the temperature allowed.

"Ya wanna come in with us?" the boy asked as he whirled back around and headed for the shower.

"That's Ok, we already took one," Jesse replied as he approached.

"We're gonna have breakfast soon David. Uncle Sid say's we'll eat in about 15 minutes." Spencer now told his friend as he made every attempt to keep his eyes focused on David rather than Richards creamy white buns that still held their toddler-like appeal.

"David is coming to our house this afternoon after lunch. Are you going to come with him?" 12 year old Karl now asked.

"You'll really like it there, they live on the Ocean.!" David now said. Spencer shrugged his shoulders not really knowing what to say.

"David say's you didn't sleep with us last night because you're shy. You ain't still shy are you?" Richard asked.

"Shy?" Jesse now asked David.

"That's what Uncle Thomas told me. He said once you two get use to them, you'll like them!" David replied.

"Uncle Tom tom says that your school has the same rules our Family does. We don't go blabbing to other people about our business neither!" Richard replied innocently.

"Uncle Tom tom?" Spencer now asked.

"That's what they call Uncle Thomas," David said.

"You never told them anything about us?" Karl now asked David.

"I told them we had a lot of fun and went clamming and stuff on the beach, but nothing about privacy. They know we all do it, but they know everybody does." David replied.

"But they're here now with us so there ain't no more privacy right?" Richard asked. David smiled and now had to giggle.

"Richard's asking you to get naked and play. You don't have to if you don't want to." David told Jesse and Spencer.

Breakfast was scheduled for 8:00 but it was closer to 9:00 before the six boys re-appeared in Sid's Suite where the adults had gathered. None of the adults needed to be told that the ice had been broken between the boys as Sid and Jeanette looked at each other knowingly.

As with dinner, impeccable manners on the part of the Green Tree boys once again had Stuart wondering if the boys often ate out. He knew they attended a residential school setting, but little else concerning their living situation, and to him as well as to his other Brother's, it appeared that the boys ate out very often. Sid deeply chuckled at the suggestion as the boys all ate together at an adjoining table in the Hotel's Dining Room.

"Actually, they very infrequently eat out away from Green Tree. What you're seeing is their best behavior. At school, they'd climb on top of the table to get to a jelly donut, but they are taught proper eating etiquette and when to apply it," he told his Host.

"That's probably best. Once our boys return to the Vineyards, you won't be seeing very many napkins in laps!" Charles reported as the adults chuckled.

Spencer's morning after breakfast was spent seated between Anthony and Jeanette as the boy toured the Clinic used by Thomas's Brothers for their plastic surgery practice.

After two hours of explaining, before and after slide shows and even a visit by a former burn patient, the group was ready to return to the Hotel for lunch. Spencer had made no formal commitment either way, but he was thinking on the subject.

To keep the boys busy while Spencer was away, Sid, Barry and Thomas remained back at the Hotel with them waiting for Doctor Lester to appear.

"The meeting is set-up at the Institute for 2:00 this afternoon." Dr. Lester told Sid and Barrry.

"There are two Lawyers representing the both of you from the Institute and another two from Alexandria making sure their interests are covered. Unless you object, I'd like to be there on your behalf too," he told both men.

"What's the big deal? It's just a simple turnover of property isn't it?" Sid asked.

Sid's opinion of lawyers was on a par with social workers, cops and judges; he thought it was a great shame that Adolf didn't take out his insecurities on them rather than the Jews. That opinion Thomas was very well aware of.

"I'm sure that the Institute's lawyers want to make sure you are fully represented. I don't know what the condition of the Estate is in or even how large it is, but a piece of property on Block Island has to be somewhere on a par with the Vineyards!" he told both men. Doctor Lester nodded his head.

"I'm told by the Institute that the Estate is valued in seven figure's. There are going to be tax issues that go beyond simple solutions. Even after the tax problems are resolved, there is the matter of routine maintenance and oversight of the property unless the two of you decide to either sell it or live there yourselves," he said.

Sid shook his head almost as fast as Barry.

"We intend to be buried there! It won't be sold," he replied adamantly.

"Do you plan to live there?" Dr. Lester asked. Sid looked up at Dr. Lester and smiled.

"Sure Doc! All we gotta do is to figure out how to move Green Tree and The New Hampshire School to the Island. You think anybody out there will notice the population quadrupling overnight with Geppetto boys?" Sid replied somewhat sarcastically.

"I have no intentions of leaving Green Tree and Barry leaves The New Hampshire School feet first too!" Sid said.

"Which is why we need four lawyers to get that done." Thomas now said. Sid reluctantly nodded his head.

"We don't know what the lawyers from Alexandria have in mind, but your lawyers assume that all they want out of the deal is to maintain security for The Project." Dr. Lester now said.

"The fact that the both of you intend to be buried there presents us with some issue's that aren't normally addressed in situations like this. It means we have to find a way to keep the property almost indefinitely under your control, even after you're deceased." The Doctor said.

"Either that, or somebody will be planting a Shopping Center over that Cemetery before you're cold," he said.

"Gee Doc, I didn't know you had a sense of humor!" Sid now said with a small grin.

"So how do we solve that problem?" Barry now asked.

"Since neither of you have any living relatives, the best way to keep control of the property after you pass is to put the Estate into an Endowment. For as long as the both of you live, the property remains in your hands. Once you pass, it's endowed to Harvard and is kept in Trust by the University to be used by whomever you choose to use it." Doctor Lester said.

"That stops the place from being sold?" Barry asked.

"For as long as you say." Doctor Lester replied.

"It also takes the Estate off the Tax Rolls." Thomas added.

"That I like!" Sid said.

"We'll go over the proposal and the details this afternoon, but there's still the issue of the lawyer from Providence. He knows nothing about the both of you and that's the way everybody involved wants to keep it. As far as he's concerned, the both of you are Harvard Alumni who want to keep the property "In the Family" so to speak," he said.

"The Institute is going to recommend you take possession of the Estate and let him do all the necessary Legal work on the Island and for Rhode Island, and then walk away from him. Naturally, he'll be paid well for his services. There's a list of 28 names you can chose from that the Institute will provide to you. They are all lawyers and they are all Geppetto boys or girls. Some of the names you will probably recognize." Dr. Lester said.

"What about the two lawyers from the Institute today?" Sid now asked.

"Their names are on that list." The Doctor replied.

"Now we've got our own lawyers?" Sid asked.

"And Doctor's, and even a few Congressmen." The Doctor replied.

Adam's night sleep was anything but as comfortable as that experienced up in Boston. The rain had begun sometime between two and three in the morning, and for a time, was a drenching downpour as the counselor used his body to act as a shield from the water spraying into the lean-to. The five children he protected were fairly dry, right up until the waterworks flowed from within. Nobody really knew who opened the spigots, but it really didn't matter. A chill in the low 60s greeted Adam as he crawled out of the lean-to only to see a fog shrouded fire place that wasn't going to be warming anybody's buns anytime soon.

"I thought you said Bert was only kidding!" Kevin said to Adam. Adam shook his head but was too cold to respond as Kevin now approached wrapped in a fairly wet and mud covered blanket.

The driest place in camp was a shelter built for the horses along with a walk in cooler for perishables and a small storage shed. Grabbing a bundle of towels from the shed, Adam put the bundle in the horse's shelter and then stripped to dry himself off.

"Throw a few handful's of straw in the fireplace," Adam told Kevin as he wrapped the towel around himself.

"Everything's soaking wet. Nothing's going to burn," Kevin told the counselor as he picked up an armful of straw.

"Bullshit! If we put enough lantern fuel on the lake, we can burn water," Adam replied as he took a can of fuel off the shelf in the storage shed.

With a roar that had Adam skipping himself away from the fireplace, the straw went up like a bomb at the touch of a match thrown into it.

"Wow Uncle Adam, we can feel the heat from here!" Sammy said as he crawled out of the lean-to. Adam grumbled as he now lifted his knap sack that was dripping wet with rain water (He hoped).

"You should always put your knap sack into the lean-to as deeply as you can Uncle Adam, you need to keep it dry in case it rains!" Greg now told the counselor as the mafia now all began scrambling out of the shelters to warm themselves by the roaring straw. A little too pissed off to answer the Junior Counselor, Adam again grumbled as the told the boys to get more straw and as many twigs and small branches as possible to build more fires.

The next half hour or so was spent getting the mafia as dry as possible and into whatever dry clothing was available. By 8:00 the sun was peeking over the tree tops as Adam now shifted gears towards breakfast.

"Boy Uncle Adam, you sure do look funny cooking them eggs with a towel wrapped around you!" Trevor now said as more than a few of the mafia giggled.

"I'm pleased that I amuse you," Adam replied as he looked down at himself.

"Maybe we need to do this more often," Kevin now said as he poured himself some coffee.

"Hear that guys? Uncle Kevin thinks he'd like to take you back out on another overnight next weekend," Adam replied as he glared at Kevin.

Once round bellies stuck out everywhere and Adam had borrowed a dry bathing suit from a senior boy, the horses were saddled as the camp was cleaned up and everybody prepared for the journey back to camp. Since it was almost a mile [1½ km] longer than the first part of the hike, plus the fact that the mafia would busy themselves with hunting down wild game (Or whatever chipmunk was retarded enough to still be anywhere near them), Adam knew the trip was almost three hours long.

"Seen Jeannie?" Adam asked Kevin as the two counselors's followed the last of the mafia out of the campsite.

"She took 1st turn riding with the senior boys on horseback," Kevin replied as he slung his knap sack a crossed his back.

"She look OK?" Adam asked. Kevin smiled.

"She had 3rds on breakfast, so I assume her tummy is a lot better," he replied.

Their arrival back in camp just before 1:00 came with the blowing of Mess Call. John had held lunch until they showed up much to Adam's delight. Once the group returned to the cabin for Rest Period, the mafia's afternoon was effectively over. Following a half hour shower, Adam snuggled into bed for a short nap with Sammy, the girls and Joey and Trevor. Like the rest of the mafia, they wouldn't awaken until almost dinnertime.

Spencer was quiet returning from the Clinic after his visit and through lunch but not abnormally so. The boy had rarely been outside the cradle of safety and comfort he knew Green Tree to be, and it wasn't unusual for him to be very observant of things going on around him without comment or outward emotion on his part. Following lunch, he would be closely monitored by Jeanette and Thomas, but he was given as much time as he needed to make his decision un-pressured by outside influence.

Sid's meeting at Harvard with Barry, Doctor Lester and the four Attorney's came off on time at 2:00. To Sid's surprise, the Director of the New Hampshire School was also there to give extra moral support to Barry. The relationship between Barry and Matthew mirrored the one between Sid and Bert, and neither man had any objection to Matthew attending the meeting.

Once the introductions were out of the way, the lead Attorney from Alexandria stood up to address the meeting.

"Before you officially start the meeting, there are a few things that need discussing. First of all, we have nothing whatsoever to do with this meeting and we're not even here talking to you. We've read a copy of the Will, and we've read a copy of the proposed Agreement between the both of you and The Institute. We have no problem signing off on it which ends our involvement once it's signed. No record of our involvement will be made, and no mention, either verbal or written concerning The Project will be made during the discussions of this meeting." The Attorney said dryly.

"Why would you sign off on something you're not involved with?" Sid asked the lawyer.

"Harry said you'd try to bust our balls. He told us to tell you that all Alexandria wants to do is to see that this thing goes your way without creating problems for anybody especially the two of you. He spoke to Bert as well as with Doctor Lester and Matthew last night. He's on the other end of this line, or you can call Bert if you'd like." The lawyer responded as he put a cell phone in the middle of the table.

"We've all looked at this thing now for almost a week Sid. As an academic exercise, it's been sent to the brightest legal and financial minds in the Country. It keeps that Estate under your control at least until Harvard goes out of business; probably century's longer. The tax liabilities alone are immense. If you do it this way, you've got your cake and you get to eat it too." Matthew now said.

Sid sat back in his chair and looked at Barry who so far had said very little.

"My Brother and I just want to go to the Island and bury our two Brothers. When we die, we want to be buried there and we'd rather not get kicked out in a few years to make room for a Supermarket or a McDonald's. We'll probably visit there from time to time, but basically, the both of us have lives to be lived elsewhere for now. We want the place maintained and looked after in the interim. If that's what this agreement says, that's what we'll agree to." Barry said.

Sid nodded his head.

"Barry and I talked about this last night. The bottom line is that we want to keep this property available for use by the boys as a vacation spot. It would be nice if they experience in their youth what we experienced in ours," he said.

Once the meeting officially began with the stenographer, the two attorneys' from Alexandria were completely silent as the reading of the Endowment proposal was read.

After assigning both of the Geppetto lawyer's with their Power of Attorney to finalize the legal procedures in Rhode Island on Monday, Sid and Barry were more than ready to return to the Hotel and rest. It had been an emotional day for the both of them and the most difficult parts were yet to come.

For the boys who were left at the Hotel, their afternoon was one of almost continual play with video games, television and computers. Both television and computers were a normal part of the nephew's live's but for Spencer, Jesse and David, it was a brand new world that was both fascinating and extremely confusing. They had never heard of Iraq and knew nothing about any wars. They did not know anything about the World Trade Center, or for that matter, even what it was. Their lack of information concerning the outside world around them was even more confusing to the nephew's. Do you remember when you went to sleepaway camp?" Charles asked.

"There were no radio's, television or computers. It's the same with these boys, they are in either Camp or School, and they don't have access to them."

"Never?" Richard asked his Uncle.

"No, apparently not." Charles told the boys.

It didn't go unnoticed by the adults that as soon as shower time was announced, all six boys disappeared almost instantly into their Suite.

"I guess there's no need any more for arm twisting," Sid said as the door between the two rooms slammed shut.

"The bashfulness ended right around morning showers. They haven't been apart since lunch time," Jeanette replied. Sid nodded in agreement.

A Trip By Sea

By 5:00 the entire group was boarding Stuart's boat at the Marina in Boston Harbor. It would be a two hour trip unless rough water slowed Stuart's Sport Fisherman down, and the plan was to be back on Martha's Vineyard by Dinner time. For the Nephew's, the trip was going to be a fairly routine one that the boys had made countless times before. For them, the excitement only came when they got the chance to personally steer the boat when the ship's Captain allowed them to. Other than that, the tv or a video game would help pass the time. The time had long since passed when the boat itself was an adventure in itself; it was merely another form of transportation, like a car.

The folks from Green Tree saw it a little differently, especially the boys from three ˝ year old Kenny all the way to the 50 year old Sid. Now standing in front of a 72 footer [22 m] that was built to catch fish with great speed and in great comfort, Spencer, Jesse and David looked at the boat like the Nephew's looked at the Gulfstream jet. The Captain stood by the railing as the two mates stood bow and stern ready to undock.

"Dora wants to serve Dinner by 7:30 Captain. Can we make it?" Stuart asked his Captain as the group boarded the boat.

"It shouldn't be a problem, there's a light chop on the Bay and two foot [60 cm] swells on the Sound, so we should be able to maintain cruising speed except for the Canal." The Captain replied.

"We may want to go out to Block Island tomorrow Captain. If we've got good weather, what are we looking at?" Stuart now asked the man.

"An hour. Maybe an hour and a half if we've got to stay just off shore." The Captain replied. Stuart nodded.

"I'll let you know as soon as we make a decision. Keep the crew on board tonight just in case." Stuart said.

"Will we be fishing?" The Captain asked.

"No, but stock the boat for a one day cruise. If we go, we'll probably have a dozen or so on board." Stuart instructed his Captain.

Normally when the boat prepared to get underway, the Captain was alone on the flying bridge as he started the engines and directed the crew and dockworkers. Now, the man had to excuse himself every step of the way up the ladder to the pilot seat as all six boys watched the man's every single move. For Spencer, David and Jesse, the mere fact alone of being on the flying bridge was an adventure in and of itself. Spencer gaped with an open mouth at the seat on the tuna tower that towered even higher.

"People sit up there?" He asked the Nephew's.

"Sure! When we go fishing somebody sits up there to watch out for them." Richard replied.

"Can we go sit up there now?" Jesse asked.

"No, when we want to go up there we have to wear a safety harness and the boat can't be moving. Once we get out of the Harbor, we'll be going too fast to be allowed to sit up there." 12 year old Karl informed the boys.

"Let's take a seat boys, we're about to get underway." The Captain now told the boys. With the flick of a switch, the muffled sound of bells went off somewhere below along with the sounds of fans coming on. 10 or 15 seconds later, the Captain pressed a button on the instrument panel and with a large puff of black smoke, the 1st of the two diesel engines roared to life. Within about a minute, the second button was pushed by the Captain and Spencer could feel the goosebumps rising on the back of his neck as the 2nd engine now rumbled into being. For all three Green Tree boys, not even the cranes used to lift the beams for the new Canteen back at camp sounded as powerful as the engines that began to settle down into a matching hum just below them.

Once the Captain was satisfied that the engines were running smoothly, he shut off the exhaust fans and warning bell. Ordering the bow, forward spring and stern lines to be brought aboard, the one remaining line, the aft spring, was used by the Captain to kick the stern of the boat away from the dock and expertly maneuvered the craft with the confidence that his 25 years in the Coast Guard had given the man. All three Green Tree boys looked at the man with as high a regard as they did the Gulfstreams captain and crew. Jesse for one was wondering how long it would take to become a Captain.

Once the boat had cleared the Marina, it was David's turn to educate his friends as the boat slowly cruised past the Constitution. Both Jesse and Spencer listened to David and the Nephew's talk about "Old Ironsides" as history sailed past their eyes just a few hundred feet away. As not only a History buff, but their History teacher, Sid had often spoken about the ship in class, and now, they were staring at it in person.

All three boys found Boston Harbor interesting, but not nearly as interesting as the boat did once they got out into the Bay. Now heading directly for the Cape Cod Canal, the boat was no longer hampered by a speed zone and as the Captain pushed both throttles forward, the boy's eyes got bigger as the speed increased. With a cruising speed of 50 miles [80 km] an hour, the boys were half convinced the boat could fly.

With the boat now underway, the crew would shift gears from deck hands to stewards. Both boys were related to the Captain, one was his 19 year old Son and the other his 16 year old Nephew.

"The older boys name is Bradley. The younger one is Ronny. They've both been with the ship since she was purchased five years ago." Stuart told his guests as they watched both boys stow away bumpers and dock lines on the stern.

"The boys are strictly assigned to the boat. They are very well liked by all of our children and get along really well, but they are not considered as part of the Family and the children keep their private lives separate from them. Tom tom says your boys would consider them outsiders." Charles advised the group.

"Do our boys know that?" Sid asked Thomas.

"Yes, I spoke to them on the plane and explained what circumstances they might find themselves in. They know the basic rules and regulations and have been told to keep private things private," Thomas replied.

"How are these boys going to react to Kenny if they see something out of the ordinary?" Thomas now asked his Brothers.

"Both boys were pretty much raised around our children and they know that they are raised quite liberally when it comes to nudity and their sexuality. They've seen hands stuffed down underpants and probably more than a few erections, and have been instructed to ignore it as they would a child picking his nose or urinating overboard. Both boys have been raised since birth in Family nudist colonies during the summer so being exposed to our children sans clothes when they're on the boat or on the beach is nothing new to them." Stuart said.

"I can see where that would be a big plus." Barry now said. Stuart nodded his head.

"I interviewed a few dozen Captains before I chose to hire Brad's dad. He was hired the day he was interviewed and disclosed his membership in a local Nudist Colony." Stuart said.

"Did he know it would give him an advantage?" Sid asked. Stuart shook his head.

"No, in fact, I had interviewed four possible Captains I knew to be nudist in advance. He was the only one who was honest and forthright about his participation," he replied.

"How did you know they were nudists?" Jeanette asked.

"Uncle Joel knew several professor's from Harvard and B.U. who were nudists and they supplied him with the names of those who were Licensed Captains."

"They didn't have any problem with "Outing" their fellow nudists?" Jeanette asked. Stuart smiled somewhat at the question.

"It wasn't like they were gay or leading some secret life. True naturists see no shame in what they're doing, so why would they try to hide their involvement? We knew from the very beginning the Captain's boys were going to be around our children when they got naked, so having the boys considering nudity as nothing to hide was extremely important." Stuart explained.

Once the gear was stowed away, both boys began serving drinks as the boat now sped towards the Canal. Kenny's afternoon nap was cut short by the trip to the Harbor, and he now slept soundly in the Master Cabin. Thirst more than anything else brought the boys down from the flying bridge as they took a tour of the rest of the boat. The fact that the boat was called a fishing boat was hugely mis leading in its description. It could sleep a dozen people in moderate comfort along with sleeping a crew of four if necessary. With a full galley complete with walk-in cooler and freezer, this boat could have you in the Bahama's fishing in three days when it took the old Family boat three weeks.

"I spoke to the Captain Sid. If you wish, we can take you out to Block Island tomorrow morning and have you back on the Vineyard before Dinner. Block Island is roughly 60 miles [100 km] away from the Vineyard, so it's no big deal." Stuart told Sid. Sid nodded his head as he watched the shoreline whiz by. Sid now looked to Barry.

"Neither one of us has been back there since our Uncle Kenny's funeral. Before that, the last time we set foot on the place was in the late 1960s. Even then it was pretty laid back. I remember coming into the Harbor with Uncle Kenny and tying the boat up on the end of the pier. The old grocery store was still in business and we walked in to buy some supplies for the return trip," Sid recalled. Barry smiled thinking back.

"Remember the note?" He asked Sid. Sid nodded once again.

"Gone to town. Be back shortly. Ring up whatever you need and leave the money in the register," Sid replied with a chuckle.

"I wasn't really sure if it was a joke or not, so I hit the No Sale key on this ancient cash register that you needed to crank with a handle. The drawer popped open and the register probably had a couple of hundred dollars in it. Not a soul anywhere for miles, but this register just sat there stuffed with cash," Sid said with a small smile on his face.

"What did you do Uncle Sid?" Jeanette now asked. Sid shrugged his shoulders.

"We spent the next 20 minutes or so walking down every isle putting stuff in a shopping cart and then we took it to the register, rung it up, and loaded up the boat. It came to a little over a hundred bucks and Uncle Kenny gave us the money and we gave him back the change. We never did see the guy who owned the store, even after staying there overnight," Sid said with a chuckle.

"For us, that was typical Block Island. A locksmith would have gone bankrupt on the Island, nobody ever locked up anything." Barry added.

"Like the Vineyard, the place is still pretty well laid back, but with three year-round ferries now servicing the place I don't think you're going to be seeing very many un attended shops anymore. Once the season ends after Labor Day things settle down a bunch, but right now it's high season around here, and the Island has wall to wall tourists climbing all over the place." Stuart replied.

"Downright depressing!" Sid replied shaking his head.

"It reminds me of the little girl who found herself one day sitting in a very strange environment. She was homesick, scared to death and surrounded by big ugly grown-ups who kept telling her she would be fine and she would remember those days as the best in her life," Jeanette said.

"They were right, she does look back at them as the best in her life, just as the boys on this boat will remember years from now that these were "The good old days!"

"Who was that? Johanna?" Sid asked. Jeanette shook her head.

"No, it was me and one of the men telling me those things was you," she replied. Sid shook his head.

"Wasn't me, it had to have been Bert. You said they were ugly!" Sid responded.

"What's that?" Richard asked the group as the boys mounted the steps from the galley and headed towards the Main Salon.

"It sounds like Uncle Sid just told a joke or something. He's always making people laugh." David replied.

Now joining the adults, David headed for Thomas as Jesse and Spencer looked toward the wet bar.

"Spencer's thirsty Uncle Thomas, do we have any lemonade or iced tea?" David asked.

"I'm thirsty? You said you were thirsty!" Spencer said.

"I think we're all thirsty, but I'm not sure what we have." Stuart now said as he looked at Bradley.

"I can make some lemonade or iced tea, but it will take some time. Would you rather have soda?" the boy asked. six glasses of Coke later, the boys now headed for the Pilot House.

"You're perfectly welcome to sit in the Pilot's seat, but don't touch anything including the wheel or the Captain just might string you up!" Charles told the boys as they all scrambled up the steps.

"We know Uncle Charles!" Richard said as he disappeared.

"What's that?" Jesse asked as he sat behind the wheel which was moving as if all by itself.

"Captain Jim is steering the boat from the flying bridge and this wheel is attached to that wheel." Karl replied.

"He can run the whole boat from up there or from down here. He can even run the boat from the tuna tower if he wants to!" Richard said.

"Why do they call it a tuna tower?" Spencer asked.

"Because that's where they watch for fish to jump out of the water or sea gulls who know where the fish are when we go fishing. It's really high up there!" Jeremy replied. The next 10 minutes or so were spent with the Green Tree boys asking questions until the sound of a bell was heard ringing.

"Ya gotta get out of the seat, Captain Jim is coming down." Richard told Jesse as he slid off the seat. Almost immediately, Brad came up into the Wheel House and took over the wheel as he jerked it to signal his Father he was now in control.

"What's happening?" Spencer asked as Bradley started pulling back on the throttles.

"We're coming up to the Canal and we have to wait until the light turns green." Karl replied.

"How come?" Jesse asked.

"If a really big boat or barge is coming through the Canal, we have to wait until it passes through or we could get crushed." Richard replied.

As the Captain now replaced his son at the wheel, the boys watched intently as the boat neared the canals entrance.

"The light is Green Captain Jim, are we gonna reach it before it changes?" Karl now asked as the boy looked through a pair of field glasses.

"We can find out!" the Captain replied as he looked at his son. Without being asked, Bradley unhooked the microphone from the radio and turned it to Channel 13.

"There's a Barge coming through at 7:00 pops, other than that, we're good to go," the boy told his Father.

"And the tide?" he asked.

"Four and a half knots against us." Bradley replied as he looked at the tidal chart. The Captain shook his head.

"Get the kids in life jackets Brad. nobody goes topside without a jacket on." He instructed the boy.

"Even me Captain Jim?" Richard asked with a hopeful smile.

"Sorry Ritchie, but if you fall overboard in that current, all the swimming ability in the world isn't going to do you the least bit of good." The Captain replied with a smile.

Even though the boys had made this trip though the Canal probably hundred's of times before, it was always the highlight of any trip, especially once they neared the Maritime Academy. If they were lucky, they would find themselves cruising past the Academy's Training Ship, the 546 foot [166 m] "Patriot State". Compared to her, "Old Ironsides" was a midget. As Stuart's boat passed the ship, Jesse had a few more questions waiting to be asked of his Uncle Sid. Once the boat passed into Buzzard's Bay, the Captain made a run to the Wood's Hole Passage and on into Nantucket Sound.

"That's Martha's Vineyard. We live on the South West corner of the Island on a spit of Land called Gay Head. They don't "Officially" call it Gay Head any longer, after John-John's death the locals were a bit humiliated by all the national attention and they've changed the name back to its supposed original Indian name." Stuart told the adults.

"It's all quite stupid, nobody but some old biddy's who are registered with The Daughters of the American Revolution really cares about the name. They're afraid the place is going to be overrun by the gays from Provincetown." Charles said.

Just before 7:00 and right on schedule, the boat slipped into its berth in Vineyard Haven Harbor just as a ferry was leaving. It took a little coaxing to get the boys off the flying bridge, and only when Dora's name was invoked, did the nephew's pick up their pace.

"I should probably warn you in advance, you can expect the greeting for Thomas and David to be a little on the dramatic side of life. Dora has never separated very well with members of the family, and she tends to get carried away with her emotions at times." Stuart now advised Sid, Barry and Jeanette.

"Dora has devoted almost her entire life to our family, so we tend to overlook any hysterics." Charles added.

"Naturally, Charles will adamantly deny he used the term "Hysterics" if he's quoted." Stuart replied with a smile.

True to Stuart's words, Dora's reception for the group, especially for Thomas and David was an emotional one to put it mildly. Knowing it was futile to just stand around on the Portico while she carried on, the bulk of the group escaped into the house. Once Stuart and Charles introduced the guests, Stuart sent out Richard to ask Dora for some cookies.

"This crazy boy thinks he's going to eat cookies just before Dinner?" Dora asked as she now carried the boy into the Family Room.

"No, but that was the quickest way we could get you inside to meet our other guests." Stuart replied as he made himself a drink at the bar.

"Don't you be growing up to be a sneaky-man like your father!" Dora now chided Richard as she kissed the boy on his cheek and lowered him to the floor in giggles.

Once the new round of introductions were over, Dora excused herself to return to her kitchen.

"As Thomas may have told you, Dora is considered a member of the family. She has lived here in this house now for 60 years and it's as much hers as it is ours. We all spend as much time here during the summer as we can, but for now, it's home to Steven and Paulie when they're not at school," he said.

Of Thomas's seven brother's, five were able to attend with their families which meant a full house, even for the 10 bedroom house. Knowing things were going to be tight in advance, Stuart had rented the house next door which was smaller than the main house, but still fairly large at eight bedrooms. In years past, the two houses were part of one parcel but had been split and sold some 20 years earlier.

"It was our Big Brother Marty's original house. He was raised in it, and Uncle Joel was born and raised in this house. We've been trying to buy it back for years, but there's no interest yet for them to sell. The good news is that they've given us the First Right of Refusal if they ever do decide to sell, so probably we'll get it back before long." Stuart said during dinner.

"How big is your house Uncle Sid?" Jesse now asked. Sid half smiled thinking back.

"Nowhere near as large as either this house or even the house next door. It's also a completely different style of house. I remember when I first saw it, it looked like a castle to me with great big round towers and what looked like a fence on the roof. My first reaction when I saw it was to wonder where the moat was!" he replied.

"What's a moat?" Spencer asked.

"Remember Monty Python and the guys standing in front of the castle?"

Jesse asked his friend.

"Oh yeah!" Spencer replied. Most of Thomas's brothers had to stop and laugh as they sat back.

"Monty Python?" Stuart asked once he regained his composure.

"That's considered "Heavy reading" as far as Uncle Sid is concerned," Jeanette replied as she looked at Sid.

"It beats "Schreck" Sid countered.

Previously completely uninterested in the conversation around himself, Kenny now came to life.

"Schreck?" he asked as he looked at Jeanette.

As Jeanette calmed the three year old back down to eat his Prime Rib, Sid continued.

"The house stands on a very high bluff overlooking the ocean. You can see the house from the road, but there weren't that many houses around it. I don't know what the neighborhood looks like now, probably wall to wall housing developments," he said.

"Not likely." Stuart replied.

"The Island has certainly changed in the past 35 years, it has grown in population and there are a lot more tourists going there, but like the Vineyard, once the season is over, it rolls back to pretty much the same peace and tranquility we're famous for."

"Let's hope so." Barry said.

Once dinner was over it was time to walk next door. A cobblestone walk had been laid down between the two homes in the 1950s, and was still being maintained.

Now however, a small white picket fence divided the two properties and the gate was locked whenever the house was not being rented by Thomas's family. It was quite evident to all the Green Tree adults that the current situation was not what the family wanted. "Why did Marty decide to sell the house?" Sid asked as the children raced ahead of the adults.

"Thomas can explain it in a little greater detail if you wish, but he didn't really have a choice. There were some legal problems surrounding our family's lifestyle, and as with everything else in this country, only money was going to make them go away. If both houses were kept, then there wouldn't be enough money left to continue to send my brothers through Medical School, so Uncle Joel and Marty decided to consolidate into the Big House and let the cottage go." Stuart said.

"Marty insisted on selling the cottage. He wasn't born there, but Uncle Joel was born in the Big House, so as far as our brother Marty was concerned, there was no debate which one would be sold." Charles added.

"And the legal troubles?" Barry asked.

"It took a few million, but they went away." Stuart replied.

Unlike the Big House which was filled with years of memorabilia from its inhabitants going back decades, the cottage had the appearance of a very nice rental property with fake pictures, plastic trees and flowers, and generally all white interior. Redecorated over two decades earlier, the house no longer held any memories for Thomas or his family. It was simply a structure waiting to be returned to its original state once it was back in their hands.

"Do the owners ever come here to visit?" Jeanette asked.

"No. The house is owned by a Corporation that picks up large homes like this and rents them out. The house is strictly business to them, and as long as they rent it out six months of the year, they make a profit." Stuart replied.

"They did very well for the first 15 years, but since 9/11, they've been taking a bath."

"That sounds like good news to me," Sid now said.

"They've been weathering the storm by selling off smaller pieces, but that gravy train is about to end. We think we're going to be receiving a call from them shortly, especially if we stop renting it. Right now, we're their best customer." Stuart replied.

"Me and Karl and Jeremy want to sleep here tonight daddy. Can we?" Richard now asked as he came jogging down the staircase two steps at a time.

"I thought David was sleeping in the Big House with Uncle Tom tom?" Stuart asked his son.

"He is daddy, but Spencer and Jesse want to sleep here." "I thought we had the sleeping arrangements all worked out?" Charles now asked his sons.

"We did daddy, but Spencer and Jesse don't know the rest of the kids." Karl replied.

"They didn't know you three either until yesterday." Charles said.

"But they didn't play with us until after they knew us." Richard replied innocently.

"You don't just throw a bunch of kids together and expect them to go play dad," Jeremy told his father.

"We have to get to know each other first!" he said.

"I didn't know it was so formal." Charles said.

"Yes you did Uncle Charles, you was a kid once." Richard told his uncle.

"This sudden case of bashfulness wouldn't have anything to do with the presence of girls in the mix would it?" Sid now asked Spencer and Jesse.

"Don't mind your Uncle Sid boys, when he needs to get a needle in the rump, his face is as red as yours is right now," Jeanette said as she looked at both boys.

"It's fine with me if you get an invitation, but let's not forget we have an early breakfast tomorrow morning and a day long boat trip." Stuart told the boys.

For the five boys, Richard, Karl, Jeremy, Jesse and Spencer, the next two hours or so would be spent first in the showers that weren't as big as the boys were usually use to, but large enough to get thoroughly familiar with each other. Since it was now the 3rd shower they enjoyed together, there was little need to stand on ceremony or awkward conversation.

Be you a Geppetto boy or an alter boy, an erection erases all bashfulness or need for conversation. Like a key to a safe; it opens all doors, and like a flashlight; it shows the way. Without a mouth, it speaks volumes, and without eyes, it can find its way in pitch darkness. All three cousins were circumcised; both their new found friends were not. This only added to the mix; it was un chartered territory. Something new, something different, something unfamiliar. All put together, it spelled adventure.

As Spencer and Jesse laid down flat on the shower room floor as instructed, the exploration of their bodies by their new found friends began as Richard sat on Spencer's chest and brought his testicle's into range to be massaged to a seedless climax by a boy who had mastered the art by age five or six like he himself had. There was no need for talk or even sight, this was lovemaking at its best as the 9 year old closed his eyes and let the feelings pulse through his entire body. It was going to be a long night on Martha's Vineyard.

Chapter Thirty Six

Paula's Coming Out Party

"Are they all still asleep?" Bert asked his Water Front Director as he pulled up to the boathouse.

"I haven't heard a peep coming from the cove since lunchtime." Dan replied.

Wheeling his golf cart around, Bert headed for the cove where the mafia held court.

"Anybody home?" Bert yelled knowing the answer in advance as the front screen door slammed behind him.

"What time is it Uncle Bert?" a bleary eyed Trevor asked the Director from the upstairs balcony as the boy headed for the bathroom.

"It's time for all you lazy bums to join the party. One little overnight hike and you guys need a week to recover?" he asked as he looked for something to drink.

"Did we miss General Swim?" Joey now asked.

"It blew 15 minutes ago." Bert replied.

"Where's Uncle Adam?" he asked the boy. Joey shrugged his shoulders as he trooped down the stairs.

"He might be on the back porch. He ain't in his bedroom." The boy replied as the screen door once more slammed.

After pouring himself some ice tea, Bert made his way to the back porch where a small mountain of flesh was beginning to move about. Throwing a bunch of wet towels off a chair, Bert sat down as he studied the mass of humanity that lay before him. A tangled mess of arms, legs, and here and there, a torso could be made out as most of the heads were buried in pillows. The largest torso was Adam's as Jeannie used the man's stomach for her pillow while Sammy used his counselor's arm.

"We had a pretty good little shower going on here last night, did you guys see any precipitation? Bert asked.

"I'll give anyone an automatic "A' on their next math exam if they throw your Uncle Bert into the lake." Adam replied.

"You know of course that they're going to expect perfect grades now right?" Bert told Adam as the two men stretched out on Turtle Rock. With the rest of the mafia now either diving into the water around them, or still strolling out of the cabins, Adam smiled.

"It will be worth it; I spent all night last night listening to mosquito's buzzing my ears and trying to keep those kids dry while it poured its balls off all around me. And all that time, you were home in bed nice and warm and dry!" Adam told his Director.

"Bullshit! Christopher woke up to some lightening and crawled in with us last night, his bladder let go sometime around 4:00 in the morning." Bert replied.

"Remind me to thank him at dinner." Adam said as Jeannie giggled.

Kevin's arrival on the rock came as the last of the mafia straggled out of the cabins.

"Until Sid returns, Adam takes over his responsibilities. Kevin, you fill in for Adam."

Bert told both men.

"Have you heard from them?" Adam asked.

"No, I don't expect to until sometime tonight." Bert replied as Robin and Jill appeared on the cart path bringing Christopher down from the pool.

"Do you have spare clothing for him?" Bert asked.

"Helen dropped off a supply of underpants and overalls, but he fits into any size eight to 10." Adam replied as the boy clawed his way up onto the rock with a helpful push on the ass from the girls.

"Good. Helen's up on the girls campus with Gloria and the Infirmary staff, so we'll get him dressed for dinner here." Bert now said.

"Somebody sick?" Kevin asked. Bert shook his head.

"One of the girls just started menstruating." He said.

"Who gots her period Uncle Bert?" Jeannie now asked.

"I didn't ask. If the girl wants it made public, we'll find out soon enough." Bert told the girl.

"Do you have Christopher?" Jill now asked as both she and Robin now stood up.

"Where are you going?" Bert asked.

"Don't be silly Uncle Bert; we're going to find out who got her period!" Robin told the man as both girls dived into the water and swam for shore.

"How could you be so silly Uncle Bert?" Adam asked with a chuckle.

"When do we find out if the new arrival is a deep dark secret, or cause for a public party?" Kevin asked. "I guess we'll find out at Flagpole. Gloria said that after Carla and Jeannie's coming out party, the girls have taken a new look at life's mysteries. Besides, they know that if they make it public, the presents are much more numerous." Bert said. Both Jeannie and Carla looked at each other and giggled.

As the bugler blew Return to Quarters, the lake began to empty of campers who were now all returning to their cabins to prepare for Flagpole and then Dinner. While the mafia would have much preferred to stay in the cove swimming, Christopher was well aware of the impending meal and immediately jumped into the water and headed for shore.

"I guess General Swim is over." Bert said as he stood up and dove in after the boy.

Since the Senior girls who normally watched Christopher were now gone, both Jeannie and Carla took it upon themselves to monitor Christopher. This was never an easy task even for an adult: Christopher was a whirling dervish of activity from sunup to sundown.

He is never really controlled; one merely guides him in the direction he wants to go.

"No Christopher, don't pour shampoo on the doggies, they don't like it!" Carla told the boy as he poured a bottle of shampoo out on the two Cocker Spaniels.

"They're OK; just don't let them lick it off." Sammy told the girls.

"It's a good thing Spencer ain't here, he'd be pretty pissed at Christopher." Joey now said.

From a very happy mood moments before, Christopher's face reflected Joey's words once they registered.

"Bad?" the boy asked with a very deep look of concern and distress as he began to wring his hands. With all the adults now out on the porch, Kevin's Junior Counselor Greg was the only supervisor there. Knowing full well that Christopher could emotionally "Crash" if he felt that he was in danger of being punished, Greg knew he had to work swiftly to defuse the situation.

"No Christopher, not bad. Christopher is a good boy and he did nothing wrong." Greg said with a smile on his face as he knelt down before the boy.

"Would you like to help me find a ball and we can play with the doggies?" he asked hoping to change the boys thoughts.

"Not bad?" Christopher now asked Joey with his eyes now filling to the brim.

"No Christopher, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about our Chris." Joey said as he pointed to a boy with the same name.

"He was talking to me Christopher." Chris said with a cheery smile on his face.

"Remember? My name is Christopher too! We have the same name." Chris said.

"Same?" Christopher asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Yes, your name is Christopher and his name is Christopher. Joey wasn't talking about you." Greg lied with a smile on his face.

"Christopher is a good boy, isn't he Joey?" Greg prompted. "Very good!" Joey said as he gave Christopher a kiss.

As a smile returned to Christopher's face, Greg's blood pressure receded. If Christopher had "Gone off", there would have been a great deal of explaining to do to Uncle Bert. Even as it was, this incident would have to be recorded in Christopher's daily activity log, but at least it wasn't going to be considered to be a serious occurrence.

"I didn't say he was a bad boy!" Joey said in his own defense once Christopher headed to the bedrooms with Carla and Jeannie to look for a ball to play with.

"No but you did say that Spencer would be pissed at him. We all need to keep in mind that Christopher understands a lot of what we say to him. Just because he can't talk much doesn't mean he doesn't understand what's said. If he thinks you're mad at him or that he's about to be punished, he remembers what people use to do to him." Greg counseled the boys.

For the boys, the event was over and done with and a lesson was learned. For Christopher, it appeared minutes later that it had never happened as the boy screeched and giggled as he played with the dogs in the shower. For Greg, he knew that he was in for more than a few questions at the next staff meeting when his notes and handling of the incident would be discussed. In the Fall, Greg would be heading for college and would be returning to Green Tree as a teacher four years down the road. He was well on his way.

In the meantime up on the hill, nobody needed to tell anybody what decision the new member of young womanhood had made. Walking down off the hill to the flag pole, Adam watched as a 13 year old girl named Paula strode down the path like Jesus surrounded by her disciple's. With the older girls forming a protective circle around her, the younger girls concentrated more on studying the reaction of the people who learned of Paula's new status; especially the males.

"There's a laundry bin full of wrapped-up gifts in the Recreation Hall. Fill this out and have all the boys sign it." Johanna told Adam as she passed out cards to the staff.

"A Graduation Card?" Adam asked as he looked at it.

"It works better than a Get Well Soon card!" Johanna replied with a small smile.

"Hallmark doesn't make a "Welcome to Puberty card; maybe we need to suggest it?" she asked.

Being Saturday, Dinner was an outdoor Bivouac that only added to the festive atmosphere, particularly on the girl's side of the beach. As a special table was set aside to receive the presents, the pile grew higher as dinner progressed. For Paula, it was a perfect night with the lone exception of half a dozen or so gifts that were prematurely opened by Christopher as he sat under the table looking for Christmas presents for himself before he was discovered and bribed away from the table with an ice cream cone.

"You realize of course that this thing is going to mushroom out of control!" Helen told Bert.

"You've got almost 25 girls behind Paula that are going to expect a party too."

"Why shouldn't they? Would you rather they hide themselves back in the closet like they did back in the old days?" Bert asked his girlfriend.

"No. But we don't have to go overboard in the other direction either. A lot of the girls who have already started menses feel like they've been cheated out of something." Helen replied.

"There's nothing we can do about that now unless they want us to throw a belated coming-out party for them." Bert said. Helen shook her head as the staff around the table chuckled.

Most beach dinner's ended for the Intermediate Campers right around 9:00. With Sid away in Boston, the level of camp spirit and mischievous behavior, either by staff or camper was noticeably lower in his absence. So was the music level, either coming from Sid's massive sound system that could probably power-up quite a successful small rock festival or from the singing of the campers around the bonfire as they toasted marshmallows. Right around 8:30 the migration began as the campers headed back towards their cabins on their own initiative.

With flashlight beams bouncing off the trees and with beams of light shining across the lake like a scene out of a Star Wars swordfight, the staff watched the boys disappear into the darkness leaving the beach to the delight of the Senior boys and girls who would now make the lake their own playground.

"If this many clothes are left behind on the beach, you have to wonder how many are lost in the lake?" Adam said to nobody in particular.

"They're not lost for long Uncle Adam; the Scuba Club has a weekly hunt for clothing and the winner each week gets five extra Canteen tokens." Greg told him.

"How do you choose the winner?" Kevin asked.

"The diver who fills the most milk crates wins." Greg replied with a smile.

"Makes you happy you don't work in the laundry, don't it?" Adam said to Kevin.

"Come on pumpkin, it's time for a nice warm shower and hopefully, a nice, dry sleep." Adam now said to Jeannie as he picked the half sleeping girl up off the blanket.

"Is it my imagination, or do we have a new couple on campus?" Bert asked Kevin as Adam drove up the path towards the cove.

"We've both noticed that she seems to be clinging a lot more, usually right around her period. Adam thinks she might have a slight case of puppy love, but as long as the green eyed monster doesn't attack Sammy, its manageable and he thinks it will abate in time." Kevin replied.

"And what about Carla?" Helen now asked.

"She clings too, but to a lesser degree. She seems to be more interested in Sammy and Trevor." Kevin replied.

"And everybody is behaving themselves?" Helen asked.

"That's my understanding, but if either girl decides to open her legs, all bets are off." Kevin replied.

"And what are you doing to see that that doesn't happen?" she asked.

"We talk to the boys. But we can talk until we're blue in the face, if those girls issue the invite, there will be no vestal virgins living in the cove anymore!" Kevin replied.

Bert nodded his head.

"Without badgering them, the girls need to be taught that we'd prefer they kept their virginity at least until they reach Senior status. That message is best presented by other females. Any one of the Green Tree girls would be comfortable talking to them, it's the way we brought them up, and they would be good examples to them" Bert told Helen.

"They could be senior girls at age13; we're going to tell them they can begin intercourse at that age?" Helen asked. "Certainly not! We're going to ask them to consider not engaging in intercourse until at least that age. Let's face it, if they wanted to get laid at age 6, could you have stopped it?" Bert asked.

"The last thing we want to do is to act like the fucking assholes out there who think that some stupid fucking law or any amount of punishment is going to stop kids from being human. They're going to engage in sex when they want to, not when some schmuck tells them it's OK." Bert said.

"I'd just like them to be at least 16 before they make that decision." Helen said somewhat sadly.

"I'd like them to be at least 21. But what we want, and what they want is most probably two different things. Besides, how old where you when you dropped your shorts?" Bert asked. Once the chuckling subsided, Helen shook her head.

"That was different, I was much more mature than either one of these girls." She replied.

"Yeah, me too!" Bert said with a small smile.

"We'll talk to the boys, you talk to the girls, and we'll keep our fingers crossed. That's all anybody can ever do." He told his girlfriend.

Neither Carla nor Jeannie knew anything about the conversation that centered on them, nor in all probability would they have cared. They were quite content with living in the mafia, and even more content about being the only two girls among 34 boys, every single one of which would have made them very happy upon the mere suggestion. They didn't really understand the rationale behind the adults concern for keeping their cherries intact, but if that's what made them happy, it was a small concession. After all, everything else was on the table.

"What'cha doin' Uncle Adam?" Carla asked as she walked into the bedroom with Sammy.

"After last night's little adventure, I thought that Jeannie would sleep nice and snuggly in a pair of nice warm pajamas." Adam replied as he pulled the bottoms up on a sound asleep Jeannie.

"Would you like to wear a pair to bed?" Adam asked the girl.

"No. I like to sleep nakey. Besides, if Sammy wets the bed, I just gotta take them off anyway." Carla replied.

"Or Joey and Trevor." Sammy now added in his own defense. Adam nodded his head.

"I wonder what it feels like to wake up dry in the morning or to not have my nose pressed against somebody else's armpit or big toe." He said wistfully.

Once teeth brushing and final piss call was held, both Carla and Sammy dove for the bed which was already occupied by Adam and Jeannie. Adam knew good and well that at some point between 1 and four in the morning, both Joey and Trevor would find their soggy, cold and clammy asses climbing into a nice warm and dry spot on the bed. With a kiss to both, the counselor shut out the light which now allowed the moonlit night to illuminate the woods just outside the sliding glass doors.

"Do girls ever stop having their periods and then have it come back after a few months?" Carla now asked Adam.

"Not that I know of, why?" Adam asked the girl as she lay on her back staring at the ceiling.

"I was just thinking. If that happened to me, would I get another party?" she asked.

Once Adam stopped chuckling, he reached over and pulled the girl on top and slid her between Jeannie and himself. Giving her one last kiss on the forehead, he wrapped his arms around her and Sammy who had now snuggled himself against his counselor.

"One party to a customer sweetheart, you and Jeannie made out very well the first time around; the next big party comes when you become a teenager." Adam said.

"Shit!" Carla replied.

A Meeting Of The Minds

On the Vineyard, the adults also prepared for bed with Sid, Barry and Jeanette sleeping in the guest house along with Spencer, Jesse, Richard, Karl and Jeremy, who had already retired to their bedroom. After some polite conversation, the adults watched the evening news which was standard fare for Thomas's family, but something rarely ever done at Green Tree. Jeanette watched in silence as Sid downed several very strong screwdrivers with talk of Iraq, Afghanistan, the Palestinians and folks blowing themselves up for amusement around the world.

For most of the night, Sid's involvement was one of an occasional shaking of his head or quick quip, but for the most part, he added little to the conversation. For that matter, neither did Barry and this fact was not lost, especially with Jeanette who knew the man since she was barely an adolescent.

"Are you Ok Uncle Sid?" the girl asked. Sid looked at the girl and smiled slightly.

"I'm fine sweetheart. I'm just not use to listening to the radio and watching TV. I've forgotten the world is full of assholes and nitwits who are supposed to be representing me to the rest of the free world. No wonder the entire world hates us enough to want to see us dead." He replied. "Uncle Sid, we didn't come to Boston to discuss politics. We came here for Spencer and for you and Uncle Barry. We're not here to start the next revolution." Jeanette said.

"I take it you're not a large fan of our current Administration!" Stuart now asked.

While Sid sat back and smiled, Jeanette looked pleadingly at Thomas.

"I haven't known an Administration since Franklin Delano Roosevelt who hasn't wanted to chop my nuts off, and I'm not exactly sure about his either!" Sid responded before it could be stopped.

"I'm sorry. My Uncle Sid sometimes says things he wouldn't if he thought about them." Jeanette said to Stuart. As the head of Thomas's family, Stuart was usually fairly reserved, and always fairly proper.

"And if the current clown in power did the same thing, maybe he wouldn't either!" Stuart replied with a small smile.

"In our Family, our Big Brother Marty and Uncle Joel taught every single one of us to always keep one eye on our studies and the other on our government from the cop on the beat to the president of the united states. *

To the best of our knowledge, Marty knew absolutely nothing about Geppetto, but if he did, it wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest. As far as the both of them were concerned, the prisoners in Walpole have more honor and integrity than anyone serving in government." Stuart said.

"Back in the early 1960s, our brother Marty became aware of the government program that was feeding nuclear irradiated cereal to children in Orphanage's here in the New England States. He was furious about it and tried to get it stopped. They told him at the time that they needed the information because of the Russian threat. They wanted to know what effects on the human body could be anticipated if a nuclear war broke out. Marty was dumbstruck by this stupid assertion: Didn't they have hundreds of thousands of Japanese survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who could tell them the same exact thing?" Charles said.

"After that, he never trusted the government again."

It was now fair to say that the ice had been broken between Sid and Thomas's family as effectively as the morning shower between Spencer, Jesse and the nephew's. Sid picked up his empty glass and handed it to Jeanette.

"I'm feeling much better now darling: I'll have another." He said with a smile. Jeanette shook her head as she got up and took Sid's glass.

"Somehow Uncle Sid, I knew that your mood would improve the instant I heard the word "Clown." she replied.

As Jeanette excused herself and went to bed, the rest of the group remained talking for about a half hour. Finally, Stuart prepared to leave and return to the Big House.

"We have a tidal flow to fight that might kick up the seas if the wind doesn't cooperate. The earlier we get started, the better off we are." he said.

"We're ready when you are." Sid replied.

Morning broke on the Vineyard with a blanket of fog drifting off the water and sweeping up the clay cliffs. The Big House and the Cottage where now barely visible from each other.

Sid awoke to the sound of a telephone ringing somewhere in the house. The pitter-patter of little feet told him that Kenny was now wide awake as Jeanette answered the phone.

"That was Charles. He says that Dora has a breakfast that will be ready in 45 minutes." The girl told Sid as Kenny scrambled up on the bed and crawled across the bed to reach him. "I'm going to get Anthony and Barry up; you're in charge of Kenny until I get back." Jeanette said.

The three year old wasn't the King of swallowing, and a slobbered kiss and hug for Sid was made before Kenny headed for Jesse, his next victim. Better than the bugle calling reveille or an alarm clock going off next to the boy, Kenny succeeded in rousting Jesse out of bed.

"He spit in my mouth!" Jesse declared as he wiped the drool off his face. Sid chuckled as he got off the bed and clapped for the toddler.

"His intention wasn't to spit in your mouth, he just wanted to give you a good morning kiss and you happened to have your mouth open." Sid told the boy as he headed for the bathroom with Kenny firmly attached to his hip.

"When did you come to bed? I thought you would be staying with your new found friends through the night." Sid said as he turned the shower on and turned the toddler in towards the drain.

"Pee pee Kenny?" Sid asked the boy. While Kenny looked down at his groin and let go a stream that bounced off the opposite wall, Sid adjusted the boys body down towards the drain.

"I got up in the middle of the night and decided to come in with you." Jesse replied as he moved himself into the shower and started his own flood, much to the amusement of little Kenny.

Jeanette's knock on the boys' door brought an immediate response once they learned breakfast was on the way. Spencer had returned to his room with Anthony during the night which meant that both their new friends had vanished.

"Where's Jesse and Spencer?" Richard asked Jeanette as he opened the door to the room. Jeanette smiled and giggled a little to herself as the nine year old now stood before her with his birthday suit on.

"They're use to getting up in the morning a little earlier so they can take a shower. They're back in their rooms showering now." She said.

"Take your showers and we'll meet you downstairs in the parlor."

"What's so funny?" Sid asked as he walked out of his bathroom followed by Jesse.

"That little boy Richard is as spunky as any boy on the Intermediate Campus. I just had a conversation with him stark naked and he didn't bat an eyelash!" Jeanette replied with a grin.

"Are you sure they ain't Geppetto boys Uncle Sid, they do act like us." Jesse asked as he bounced Kenny onto the bed with the toddler in fits of giggles.

"I'm sure if they were, we'd have been made aware of it. Just keep in mind that Uncle Thomas's family raises their children much more sensibly than other parents do, so you shouldn't get the idea that every boy you might meet will be as accommodating." Sid told Jesse.

"Like the Captains sons?" Jesse asked.

"Yes, precisely; there's no real problem with nudity around the both of them because they were raised in a nudist colony and aren't afraid of their sexuality or horrified by the mere sight of a naked body. But still, they know nothing of the children's interaction with each other, just as they know nothing about Geppetto." Jesse nodded his head.

"Uncle Thomas told us on the plane." He replied as he returned his attention to Kenny and bounced the toddler up and down by pressing down on the mattress.

"These beds sure can bounce! They're almost like the trampolines at home." He said as Kenny once again began giggling and laughing.

"The magic of box spring mattresses." Sid said as he returned to the bathroom to shave.

"What's that?" Jesse asked Jeanette. Jeanette shrugged her shoulders as she reached down and pulled Kenny by his ankle to the end of the bed.

"Got me, you know how old your Uncle is." She replied as Kenny giggled away.

Stepping out into the cool morning fog, all thoughts of food temporarily vanished for all five boys as they looked all around. The little picket fence was only about 100 feet [30 m] away from them, but barely visible.

"Let's go out to the cliffs!" Richard now said. With the boys disappearing into the mist, Jeanette had second thoughts.

"Suppose they get lost?" she asked.

"In their own back yard?" Sid asked.

"You can't see your hand in front of your face! How would they know what direction they're walking in?" she asked. Sid shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, nobody ever said they lost any kids in the back yard before, so I gotta believe the kids know how to get back home." Sid responded.

"There's an on-shore drift in the mornings, so they all know that if they turn their faces into the breeze and walk in the opposite direction, they're walking away from the water." Charles told the group when they entered the house.

"There's a bell that's mounted on the porch that can be rung, but sometimes if the fog is really thick, you can't tell what direction the sound is coming from. It's kind of spooky to experience." Stuart added.

"Can we go to Block Island too Uncle Stuart?" 12 year old Jaime asked as the group waited for the boys to return from the cliffs.

"It's not really a pleasure cruise Jaime. We are just going out there so Sid and Barry can take a look around." Stuart told his Nephew.

Both Sid and Barry read the disappointment on the boys face.

"I'm sure that our boys are going to be joining us; we have no problems with their coming along if it's OK with you." Barry offered.

"You're sure?" Stuart asked.

"We won't have possession of the property until tomorrow, so all we'll be doing is gawking at the place like every other tourist will be doing. If the boat can handle it; the more the merrier!" Sid replied.

Stuart now had three pairs of eyes pinned to his face.

"Ask your Mothers." Stuart told the nephew's.

Staring at her breakfast getting colder by the minute, Dora sent one of her kitchen staff out to ring the large, old ships bell that was mounted on a pedestal in the yard. Out on the cliffs, all five boys stared out into the grey blob before them. Somewhere out there, there was water, a beach, and somebody listening to a radio.

"It's probably a fisherman, maybe it's a clam digger?" Richard said as the boys listened very carefully.

"Today's Sunday. It ain't no clam digger." Karl replied knowingly.

"Are they on the beach or on the water?" Jesse asked.

"Hard to tell. If they're on the beach, they gotta be joggers. This beach belongs to us and only the people who live here can use it unless the people walk miles to get here." Jeremy now said.

"What's that?" Spencer asked as he looked up towards the sky.

"Dora wants us home for breakfast. If it gets cold, she'll fuss at us for hours!" Richard now said as all three boys turned away from the cliffs. Following behind their hosts, both Spencer and Jesse wondered how the boys knew where the fuck they were going.

As Jeanette waited for breakfast, she now had the opportunity to look around the house in greater detail than the night before. The Georgian Style house did not disappoint. Very little furniture was less than 100 years old. Most had been handed down to Marty and Joel from their parents and grandparents. Once in a while a piece had been picked up by either of the family's Patriarch's, and when that was identified, the complete story of the pieces history was known by the niece's and nephew's who were giving Jeanette the tour.

"The Nursery?" Jeanette asked as she read a bronze plaque over a set of large French Doors.

"It's locked and nobody's allowed in there. It's where Uncle Joel and Uncle Marty played when they were little boys." 13 year old Valerie replied. Jeanette nodded her head.

"I forgot, David told me about that." she told the girl.

"Did he tell you about me?" Valerie now asked. Jeanette smiled at the girl. She thought she had seen a little bit more than a mild interest in the girls eyes when she looked at David.

"David told me he knew a very pretty girl named Valerie who lived here, but he didn't tell me just how pretty she really was." Jeanette replied. She now had a new friend for life.

"Good morning Dora, what's for breakfast?" Karl asked as the boys traipsed into the kitchen as the screen door slammed shut.

"Cold mush if you don't git to the table any faster!" Dora replied as she dried her hands on her apron.

"Good, so we won't spoil our appetite if we take a Danish on the way out." Jeremy replied.

"Not unless you intend on eatin your breakfast standin up!" the cook replied in her harshest Haitian accent. Passing the bakery trays that sat in the tall rack on the way out, all five boys studied the possibilities carefully as Dora stood guard over the rack with her hands on her hips.

Once Richard, Karl and Jeremy found out that all their cousins were taking a boat ride, it was a foregone conclusion that they were too. This new information only increased the level of activity at the breakfast table. Since both Thomas and Jesse were going to the Island, Jeanette decided to remain behind with Kenny. Valerie also decided to stay behind to baby sit Kenny. While the boys would go boating to Block Island, the girls would slum it on the Vineyards.

By 9:00 and only a few hours late, half a dozen adults and a small gaggle of children walked down the docks to the Sport Fisherman as the Captain's son and nephew looked at each other wondering if they had stocked enough soda and snacks.

"Dora wants this chest of food kept refrigerated. These two chests don't need any." Stuart told the crew as he passed them over the gunnel.

"Did you make lemonade and iced tea?" he asked the boys.

"Yes Sir. We also brought some Hawaiian Punch. Nobody at the store knew what bug juice was." Bradley informed Stuart.

"Neither did I until yesterday. Apparently it's a drink like Cool-Aid." He replied with a smile.

As the children all donned life vests, the now familiar sound of a warning bell went off along with a set of blowers in the bilge. Opting to wait on the stern, the boys looked over into the water knowing what was about to happen. As with the day before, a large black cloud of smoke came roaring out of the starboard engine pipes along with a gush of water that drenched the dock in back of the boat. Once the port engine fired up, the powerful hum of the two high speed diesel engines could be felt even through Spencer and Jesse's sneakers. Both boys stood silent and with goosebump's on their arms.

"Do you want to stand on the bow, or up on the flying bridge?" Richard now asked his guests.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked.

"It's more fun on the bow until we leave the harbor. Once we get out into the Sound, we gotta get off the bow because the Captain is going to go fast." the nine year old reported.

Now standing along the railing on the bow, the 72 footer [22 m] made its way out of the harbor as the boys watched the ferry that was preparing to leave. The Vineyard children had seen this scene hundred's of times before, but for Spencer, Jesse and David, this was high adventure as they passed and studied the sailboats that dominated the port side of the harbor.

"Once we get past the breakwater, we gotta get off the bow." Richard said as he pointed to a large row of rocks and cement that jutted out into the harbor.

"Captain Jim has suggested that our guests might be interested in learning how to read the charts and work with the GPS. He's set up all the equipment in the Pilot House if you'd like to show them how to use it." Thomas now suggested to his nieces and nephews. The stampede off the bow was almost instantaneous.

Arriving in the Pilot House, Life Vests were traded for handheld GPS monitors and several large tracking screens as the Captains oldest son began teaching Spencer, Jesse and David the rudiments of navigation and how to read charts and plot the course using the GPS. Spencer's wheels were already turning, now they were spinning as he became engrossed in things nautical.

For the Green Tree adults, the trip was equally as impressive.

"I didn't think a boat this big could ever go so fast." Barry said as they settled down in the Main Salon and were handed some of the spiciest and strongest Bloody Mary's Sid had tasted in a very long time. Stuart smiled as he stirred his drink.

"Neither did Viking. They built the boat originally and it had a top speed of 30 Knots. It took a lot of adjusting and strengthening, but with two new high speed engines, and considerable weight reduction, the engineers finally got it up to my specifications for running out to the Outer Banks and back in a reasonable time." Stuart replied.

"My congratulations to the Chef. Is this from a mix, or did Ronny learn bartending from Dean Martin?" Sid now asked as he held his drink up. With the 16 year old Steward blushing slightly, both Stuart and Charles laughed.

"Ronny was taught "Mixology" by the Master. Before he crewed on this boat, he and Bradley crewed on Uncle Joel's boat for a summer to allow the boys to get their "Sea legs" under them. He makes all the drinks from scratch and according to Uncle Joel's very strict specifications. Both boys learned Wine, Champagne, Cognac and Brandy as well as any Wine Steward in any Four Star Hotel in the world: Just don't tell their Mothers that." Stuart advised the group with a chuckle.

By the time the boat approached the Great Salt Pond in New Harbor, the crash course in navigation that the boys received had not only made the time fly by, but all thoughts of drinks and snacks were placed aside, at least for the Green Tree boys.

"Once we pass the red bell, we can go back on the bow." Karl now informed his guests as he pointed on the chart. While the rest of the group donned Life Vests once more and went back to the bow, Spencer was much more interested in going up on the flying bridge. Not so much for the view, but to ask some questions of the Captain.

Back To The Island Home

"If we dock over there, we're in the middle of a traffic jam with the ferry coming in and out all day. We're better off here, where we won't get knocked around and gaped at by a few thousand tourists." Stuart told both men.

Opting to eat lunch ashore, the Green tree boys found it even more exciting than the Charles Hotel as they watched the activity of the boats in the Pond and looked at land that belonged to four states at one time. Now, with the air crystal clear, the boys could see Montauk Point, NY, Connecticut, the Rhode Island mainland, and Massachusetts.

"It's almost like being up in the jet!" Jesse exclaimed.

Electing to rent bikes and blend in with the tourist's rather than rent multiple cars, the group left only the Captain behind on the boat as his Son and Nephew were invited to join them. It was less than a three mile [5 km] journey to Dickens Point, but there were numerous stops along the way. Sid had spent six months on the island being hidden from people who would see him and his brothers returned to Pilgrim State Hospital to be castrated, and many of the houses he and Barry passed had opened their doors to protect him from strangers to the island some 45 years earlier. For both men, the return was bitter sweet.

"Can I help you?" A man dressed in coveralls and mowing the front lawn asked as the group pulled up to the front gate of the house on the Point.

"Do you work for the owners?" Thomas asked the man.

"I work for the owners Legal Representative. I'm the caretaker." The man answered. Thomas nodded his head and took out his wallet. Handing the man a business card, the man seemed to be puzzled for a few seconds.

"Can I verify this?" he asked Thomas.

"Be my guest," Thomas replied.

"What's this all about?" Sid now asked.

"The Institute anticipated you might want to gain access to the house if anybody was around, so they notified the Attorney in Providence that you might stop by. The Attorney gave us his cell phone number with instructions to call him if there were any questions." Thomas told Sid.

"I'm sorry, if anybody had told me you were coming, I would have had the house opened for you. It's still shuttered up tight, but the electric is on." The caretaker said as he returned and opened the lock on the gate. After introductions, the caretaker went back to his mowing and Sid and Barry entered the house. It was a good half hour before they returned outside, and neither man said very much as the boys circled around them. First walking out to the bluff, a stiff breeze was now blowing.

"Has it changed much?" Thomas now asked both men.

"The wallpaper's still the same and a lot of the pictures on the walls are the same, but stuff like our rooms and any sign of us ever being there are erased." Sid replied.

"Would you like to visit the cemetery?" Thomas asked.

"No. We can do all that when they bring our brother's bodies out here." Sid replied.

"Why is there a fence on the roof Uncle Sid?" Jesse now asked. Sid smiled somewhat and looked towards the roof of the house.

"It's called a "Widow's Walk". In the old days, these houses very often belonged to sea captains. They would leave their wives behind when they went to sea and their wives would walk around up there day after day looking for their husbands to return from the sea. Many times, they would never return, and the wives would become widow's. Hence, the name Widow's Walk." Sid explained.

Can we go up there Uncle Sid?" Spencer now asked.

"I don't see why not!" Sid said with a small smile on his face.

From the roof, the view was of the Ocean from Montauk Point, and South towards Bermuda. Most of the boats on the water were sailboats heading back to Long Island.

Is that how you came here?" David now asked Sid.

"Yes. Our Uncle Kenny had family who lived on Gardiner Island and he picked us up by boat in Greenport and brought us out here," Sid replied.

"Were you scared?" Spencer asked. Sid chuckled a bit.

"No, as a matter of fact, all four of us were sound asleep from medicine that Uncle Kenny gave us so that we didn't make any noise and wake up the guards at the hospital. We didn't know where we were until the next morning, and even then, we didn't have a clue where we were, we just knew we were on an island surrounded by water." He said.

"Why did they have guards in a hospital?' Richard now asked.

"Because they were all orphan's and in those days they didn't want orphan's to be out in the community." Stuart replied thinking fast.

"Like the orphan's in "Cider House Rules"? Karl asked his uncle.

"Yes, they could be very stupid back then." Stuart replied.

"What did you do all day?" Richard asked Sid.

"We were here for the whole winter and we played from sunup to sundown from one end of the island to the other." Sid replied.

"Weren't you afraid of getting caught and being sent back to the orphanage?" Jeremy asked. Sid shook his head.

"Our Uncle Kenny knew everybody on the island, and they all knew that we could get into big trouble if we were taken back, so they hide us in their homes or businesses whenever a stranger came to the island." He said.

"Like Hide and Seek?" little Suzy asked.

"Exactly!" Charles said as he picked his niece up.

The trip back to the marina took as long as the trip to the house since Sid and Barry took a different route back to the boat. They knew it was likely that there were still some people in some of the more familiar looking houses they passed by, but had decided to wait to try to contact some of their childhood friends. By 3:00 the group had returned to the boat with the nephews now clamoring to stick around for dinner.

"I have no problem with that. All you have to do is to call Dora and explain to her why you won't be back." Stuart said as he held out a cell phone to the boys.

Like the journey to the island, the journey back to the Vineyard was a little longer and slower as the Captain gave the guests a mini-tour of the Elizabeth Islands and Vineyard Sound. For summer's as long as most of the children could remember, they boated in these waters, and one of their favorite activities was to find a semi secluded area along the Elizabeth Islands and skinny-dip the hot afternoons away. The older children like Karl and Jeremy had extremely fond memories of flipping themselves into the water off their Uncle Joel's Trumphy Houseboat. Now, new memories were being made on their Uncle Stuart's boat.

Now anchoring off Nashshawena Island, Jesse and David looked around spotting a few houses plainly visible from the water.

"Ain't they gonna see you naked and call the cops?" Jesse asked as Suzy and Richard dropped out of their shorts.

"People come here by boat all the time and go swimming. They don't care as long as the people naked are just kids." Richard replied.

"Really?" David asked.

"Sure! A lot of the houses gots kids in them and they swim in the water all the time without any clothes on." Richard said with a grin.

"Uncle Joel always told us it was because they are New Englanders just like we are." Jeremy told David.

"What about if we get a boner?" Jesse asked very quietly.

"Ya might have one when you jump in, but the water's too cold for it to stick around very long." Karl said with a knowing grin. Using the bowsprit for a diving platform, the next half hour or so saw one naked child after another leap into the foaming waters of the Sound.

That, coupled with choppy sea's slowed the trip as the boys in the Pilot House made a game out of locating and identifying navigation aids on the charts as well as the different land masses they passed along the way. Noticeably missing in the Pilot House was Spencer who was back next to the Captain on the flying bridge asking questions as fast as they could be answered. The Captain instinctively knew that Spencer's interest far surpassed idle curiosity or a 12 year olds capacity for making a pain in the ass out of himself. Along with the questions, Spencer was constantly checking the GPS machine he held in his hand and finding the boats exact position on the chart. Spencer was absorbing knowledge as fast as it could be provided.

The boat pulled into its berth in Vineyard Haven Harbor with a small crowd on the dock waiting. Thomas smiled and waved as Kenny tried to wiggle out of Jeanette's arms to be put down. Not unsurprisingly, the object of the boys desire was to be picked up by Sid. Handing the toddler over the transom, Kenny latched onto Sid like a crab.

"Everything OK?" Jeanette asked as she looked at Sid. Sid smiled at the girl as he wrapped his arms around Kenny and gave the boy a kiss on his neck.

"Everything's fine, but I'm sure if you thought it was going to be otherwise, we would have had one more bodyguard to add to the posse." Sid replied with a smile.

"You can bet your ass on that fact!" Jeanette replied.

"Your eyes look a little funny. Have you been drinking all day?" the girl now asked Sid as she looked at Thomas.

"Certainly not! But I did find me a new bartender. I'm trying to figure out a way to convince his mother to allow me to bring him back to Green Tree with us." Sid said with a smile as he looked at Ronny. The boy turned a little pink around the neck and retreated down into the galley.

"Easily done, all you have to do is convince her that her son doesn't need to enter Harvard Medical after he graduates High School." Charles now replied.

The return to the house went uneventful except of course for Dora. While nowhere near the hysterics took place of the evening before, a stranger would have automatically assumed that the children had been away for a few months and not a day.

"Every week-end we come home from school all winter long, and we have to brace ourselves everytime." Thomas's younger Brother Steven said as the adults left the children in the kitchen with Dora.

"Paulie gets the brunt of the bear hugs and tear bath, but I don't really think he'd want it any other way despite his protests." Steven explained as the adults sat down in the living room.

"We know what you mean, we have to go through the same thing with Uncle Sid, but it's him who is looking for the hugs and kisses." Jeanette said as she watched Sid bounce Kenny on his knee.

"Ya see what I mean little buddy? Ya spend your whole life devoted to them; ya teach them everything ya know; and what happens? Ya end up with a pack of ingrates!" Sid said to the little boy. Kenny came up with a giggle as Sid tickled his sides.

Even a never ending supply of sandwiches and snacks that Dora had provided for a days boating trip still found some extremely hungry adventurers gobbling up all the stuffed lamb chops and scrimp scampy that came their way. Nothing pleased Dora more than watching the children at her table eat and as Sid handed Kenny a lamb chop bone with some meat on it, a small chin with some juice dripping down the boys stomach brought back some fond memories for the cook.

"Uncle Sid, he's going to get the rug dirty." Jeanette told Sid as the boy sat in Sid's lap working on the bone with two hands.

"That's alright darling; this here rugs seen more than its share of food. Mr. Marty use to sit with Mr. Joel when he was no older than your boy and do the exact same thing. I swear that Mr. Joel cut his first teeth on beef, pork and lamp bones that Mr. Marty would sneak past his poppa." Dora said.

"More than a few times, Miss Evelyn would find a half chewed pork chop or steak bone in his nappy at changing time!" she added with a chuckle.

"Let's not give Uncle Sid any idea's!" Jeanette quickly replied.

"Who, me?" Sid asked with an innocent look on his face.

Once dinner was over, coffee on the back porch for the adults saw a small gaggle of children flowing outside to the lawn for a game of "Touch" football. As Jeanette watched the children while she nursed Kenny, she saw little to nothing concerned with touch involved. While Jesse, David and Spencer were holding themselves back from outright tackles and body slams, the same could not be said for the children of the house. Even cute and frail looking Suzy was leaping on her cousin's back's trying to take them down like a Patriots player might.

"Aren't you afraid they might get hurt?" Jeanette asked Suzy's mother as the woman nursed her own baby.

"It looks a lot rougher than it actually is. If you watch the boys, they'll be a lot rougher with another boy than they will with one of the girls. Every once in a while somebody gets hurt, but they're right back at it five minutes later. The best way to deal with it is not to watch." The woman advised Jeanette with a smile.

Jeanette shook her head but decided to head the woman's advice as she turned away from the rumble going on just a few yards away.

"How old is your little girl?" Jeanette asked.

"She'll be two in October. How old is yours?" Betsy asked.

"He'll be four in January." Jeanette replied as she smiled down on Kenny who was more asleep than awake.

"Judging by his fingers and toe's, he's going to be a tall boy. How tall was his father?" Betsy asked.

"See, I told you so!" Sid now said to Jeanette.

"Yes Uncle Sid." Jeanette said rolling her eyes.

"We don't really know, Kenny came to us with no background information. I've been raising him since he was a year and a half old." Jeanette told the woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Betsy said. Jeanette smiled and shook her head.

"You're not prying. Most of our littlest one's have no biological parents; the girls at Green Tree raise the children as their own. Kenny and the other children like him will know the women who raised them as their only mother. If we marry, that man becomes their father." Jeanette explained.

"And does Kenny have a father?" Charles's wife now asked.

"I'm working on it." Thomas quickly said.

"Oh really? Sweetheart, I thought I was the only man in your life!" Sid said as he put down his coffee. Once more, Jeanette shook her head but remained silent as her face turned just slightly pink. Kenny probably didn't notice it, but all the adults on the porch did as more than a few glances at each other took place.

"Are we talking about canoe rides on the lake?" Sid now asked Thomas.

"None of your business you old fool." Jeanette replied as she got up to put Kenny down on a rug so the boy could stretch out.

"This calls for a drink." Sid now said.

"I'm going out to watch the kids play. Try not to step all over Kenny, OK Uncle Sid?" Jeanette asked the man.

"Kenny who?" Sid asked straight faced. To the sound of chuckle's from the adults, Jeanette walked down the porch steps with Thomas now following.

"Did you know anything about this?" Sid now asked Anthony.

"No Uncle Sid. If anybody did, it would have been Gloria or Johanna and I don't get to talk with them much." Anthony replied. Sid shook his head.

"I doubt that she said anything to them. If she did, I would have been told about it. She's been keeping this thing closer to her breast than Kenny." Sid replied as the men chuckled.

"You think this is serious?" Stuart asked.

"I haven't seen Jeanette blush since she was 14 and I had to show her how to use a panty liner. But don't tell her I said that!" Sid said hastily. Once the laughter died back down, Stuart sat back down in his chair with a brandy now replacing his coffee.

"How do these things usually work?" Thomas's brother Phillip now asked. Sid shrugged a bit.

"Like everywhere else I guess. If she likes the idea, she'll accept him. If she wants to remain single, than she will. With Kenny in the picture though, she won't let him move in without a ring on her finger and Thomas knows that. All our girls are taught that once babies are involved, the musical bed stuff stops." Sid said candidly. Sid now looked down on the sleeping toddler.

"He's not exactly still a baby, but Jeanette regards him as her child and she's not about to teach him that it's OK for someone he regards as his parents to be sleeping around." He told the group.

"All five of Thomas's brothers who are married were married in this house." Stuart said as he swirled his Brandy in its glass.

"It was always a tradition when our Brother Marty and Uncle Joel were alive. If Thomas decided to marry a girl from school, would he be expected to marry her there?" he asked.

"It's an interesting question, but one I can't answer. First of all, we've never had a formal marriage at Green Tree before. There are couple's who live together, but they're not "Officially" married to each other.

Secondly, if two of our people did marry, there would be a few hundred folks who would want to be there. In Jeanette's case, I'm guessing that number could easily top 500 people who would insist on it!" Sid said.

"The people at school who live together don't have children living with them?" Betsy asked.

"Oh yes they do, but those children aren't considered babies. A baby at Green Tree is a child younger than five who is being raised by one of our girls. Their only memories are going to be life at Green Tree, and we want them to be reared in a family style atmosphere with loving parents and a stable home environment. We intend to raise our kids in a way that a few hundred million people in america think they're doing it, we just don't go around bullshitting ourselves." Sid said.

"Present company excluded of course." Barry added.

"Of course we all might be beating our gums for nothing. We're all speculating based upon a blush." Sid reminded the group.

"I wouldn't put the rice away quite just yet!" Stuart's wife now said as she pointed towards the cliff's as Thomas and Jeanette walked hand in hand.

"Tom-tom didn't fall in love with girls very lightly as he grew up. Remember that girl named Julie he dated in Medical School?" She asked her husband. Stuart nodded his head.

"He took it so bad we had to send him to the Bahamas with the Trumphy to get his mind off her." Stuart replied.

"That was a fun trip!" Steven recalled.

"Well, I guess if it happens, we can always make plans for two weddings." Sid said as he looked at the couple.

"I don't know about your people, but the idea of our woman having to go out and buy two sets of dresses won't bother them in the slightest!" Stuart said. As the men now chuckled, Stuart's wife Betsy threw a couch pillow at her husband.

"This comes from a man who goes out and spends millions of dollars on a boat to catch a stupid fish!" she retorted.

"let's talk about tomorrow." Stuart said as the laughter died down.

"What we usually do when we go off island is to take the boat to New Bedford and be driven to Cambridge. It saves a good hour or more." He told the group. Sid nodded his head.

"Our children will remain here. We will return here tomorrow night, but if Spencer prefers, he can stay at the hotel if he thinks the trip back and forth would be too difficult for him once he begins the procedure." Stuart said.

"You think he'll be in pain?" Sid asked.

"Not pain, but he's certainly going to be a little uncomfortable." Phillip replied as the teams Chief Surgeon.

"He's a tough little guy, we'll let him decide. I know he's taken an avid interest in things concerning boats." Sid replied.

"Yes, even my Captain mentioned that fact." Stuart said with a chuckle.

"What about your trip back to Block Island? I'm told that the lawyer's from the Institute will be in Providence tomorrow to finalize the handover of the Estate. Will you be going with them?" Stuart asked.

"No, we don't need to be there. The Attorney's have our Power of Attorney. Our brother's bodies will be ferried out to the island tomorrow and the Institute will be sending out a crew and equipment on Tuesday to re-bury them." Sid replied. Stuart nodded his head.

"We can arrange to bring you to the ferry on Tuesday, but it's just as easy for the boat to bring you out there from New Bedford. If you're not ready to return, we can always hop on the ferry back to the Vineyard." Stuart said.

With plans for the following day set, Stuart's thoughts returned to Thomas. The possibility of Thomas and Jeanette becoming a part of Thomas's extended family was news that spread through the house, and by phone to the two brothers who were not there in person like wildfire. By darkness, the entire family knew of the situation except for Dora and the house staff.

"If Dora knew anything about this, she could make Tom-tom's life pretty hectic until she got the both of them to the alter. Right now, Paulie takes the brunt of her matronly doting because he's the "Baby" of the family." Stuart told Sid, Barry and Jeanette as he pointed to the 15 year old playing football on the lawn.

"We've all known and have accepted since day one that Tom-tom holds a very special place in Dora's heart. Probably every family has a "Favorite" child, and in ours, that favorite is Tom-tom. Until we get the word that it's "Official" from the both of them, it's best we keep this from her." Stuart said.

"Where did the name Tom-tom come from?" Barry asked. Stuart now got up and went to a wall of books in the Library just off the porch. Handing Barry a picture album that probably weighed five pounds [2¼ kg] or more, Barry looked through the book.

"Uncle Joel was a photography bug. Most of those black and whites he took and developed himself. The color pictures he sent out to the lab, but they were taken by him. There's probably three or four albums for every year from the 1950s, through last year when he died. Steven is now the family photographer, he picked up the bug from Uncle Joel I guess." Stuart explained.

Being somewhat of a camera bug himself, Barry very much appreciated the quality of the prints and of the photographer. These were not pictures that came from a Brownie Automatic, or even a Kodak Camera. These pictures obviously came from very serious equipment.

"What did he take these with?" Barry asked as he looked at a large black and white of a ten year old Thomas walking in the woods dressed like an Indian complete with a bow and arrows strung a crossed his bare chest.

"He had several cameras' that were passed down to Steven that he can show you. He liked the Lieca and his Hassleblad probably the most. Later on, he used a Pentax a great deal because of it simplicity to use,

but he always kept the Hassleblad close at hand." Stuart replied.

"These pictures remind me of the work of George Hughes or Negrepont. Did he study their work?" Barry asked.

"I'm not sure about Negepont, but the library does have a copy of Boyhood Australia." Charles replied.

"Uncle Joel really liked the work of Remark and his later shots, like the ones in my picture albums and especially Paulies were greatly influenced by both artists." Steven said.

"Who influences your work?" Barry asked Steven.

"George Hughes if I'm photographing our Nieces and Nephews and Ansel Adams when I'm photographing nature or the sea." Steven replied.

"I'd love to see your work when the time is right." Barry told the man.

"Not until after we come back from Block Island. Once he gets his nose in a book or photo album it takes a stick of dynamite to get him out of it." Sid said as the group once more chuckled.

"As a boy, Thomas was quite serious about running around and dressing like an Indian. He'd spend hours in the woods tracking deer. Once he even tracked and caught a porcupine. It was his first and last!" Phillip remembered with a chuckle.

"He himself came up with the nickname Tom-tom, he insisted upon being called the name right up until he left for boarding school." Charles said.

"Do the children at school call him Tom-tom?" Charles's wife asked.

"No, they call him Uncle Thomas or Doctor Tom. He's the wrong shade for "Uncle Tom." Sid responded as Barry shook his head.

"It's a damned shame. What I'm looking at is art, yet nobody outside of this house will ever be able to appreciate it merely because the child is nude in some of the shots. It's insanity!" Barry said as he thumbed through the album.

"Uncle Joel had the exact same attitude but he took consolation in the fact that even some of the Great Master's works like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci are considered Kiddie Porn by the Court's. A television station in the United States can lose it's license if it dares to put da Vinci's "Leda" on air because it dares to show a painting of two penis's with testicles, a woman's womb and her breast. If they're that ignorant, how are they ever going to cope with Tom-tom running around the woods with a loincloth on?" Stuart replied.

"I would not be at all surprised if the Vatican ordered all cherubs on the Sistine Chapel ceiling be covered over: People are that terrified of viewing a naked child's body!" Phillip said.

No one on the porch disagreed.

On the lawn, the children charged back and forth in their game while Thomas and Jeanette drifted out to the cliffs hand in hand. The "Grapevine" at school had told Jeanette that Thomas was very interested in pursuing her, and the two had been out in boats on several occasions. The girl found the man to be attractive, extremely intelligent, well mannered and good in bed. Not exceptional, but good. When it came to exceptional, that was the lone purview of a Geppetto boy which Thomas was not.

Up until that point in time, Jeanette was interested, but not committed. Now, his comment rang in her ears and her thoughts were of Kenny. First and foremost, Kenny's needs would be met before hers or Thomas's. As Jeanette looked out over the water, her hair flowed in a breeze coming on shore. The smell of salt water was in the air, and seemed even stronger than that of Florida's waters.

A freighter, probably headed for New York, was far in the distance as Thomas wrapped his arms around Jeanette's waist and stood with her.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, that wasn't my intention." Thomas told the girl.

"I wasn't embarrassed; Uncle Sid has a knack for getting under people's skin. I just wanted to come out here and see what all the kid's were talking about." Jeanette said as she looked at the cliffs. Thomas now smiled to himself.

"All eight of us played on these cliffs when we were growing up. Every once in awhile, the police would come because some old biddy complained we were digging in the clay and destroying the cliffs.

Now the kids can play in peace; she died a few years back," Thomas said with a slight smile.

"It must have been fun growing up here." Jeanette said.

"It was a lot quieter when I was a boy, I had my older brother's, and later on Steven to play with during the summers, but I spent a great deal of my time up in Vermont where we had a ski chalet. I always liked the woods, so we spent a lot of time up there," Thomas replied.

"What do you think about my family? The adults can be very reserved until they get to know someone, but the opposite is true of the children. They think the whole world is their friend." Thomas now said.

"For the most part, they're exactly like you described them to me. But I did think that Stuart would have been a lot stiffer than he turned out to be judging by your description." Jeanette replied.

"A year ago he probably would have been, along with the rest of them. But since they've been told of Geppetto, they don't consider anybody from the program being an outsider. Our lifestyle is no threat to you, and your lifestyle is no threat to us." He said.

"If everyone here right now had just moved in down the street, in all probability, my family would never have met them, nor would they have invited them into the house.

Protecting the children in our family is now the main focus, we're not about to open ourselves up to the scrutiny of a pack of morons," Thomas said.

"What did you mean when you said you were working on it? Jeanette now asked. Thomas smiled a bit and hugged the girl just a little harder.

"There are a lot of girls at Green Tree that are pretty, fun to be with and who I could see myself getting serious with. But the one I'm most interested in building a nest with is you," Thomas said as he kissed the girl on her neck.

For the girls, someday marrying and starting their own families was something that few had considered doing through their teen years, but once they got a little older and the possibilities of actually being able to be inseminated with a fertile egg from a female donor and a non Geppetto boy, with them carrying the baby to term was becoming an increasingly intriguing thought to them. However, the pickings were slim. In Green Tree,

out of roughly 100 males, only 18 were available if the biological father of the child was going to be a girl's husband. For Jeanette, only two appealed to her; Adam and Thomas.

"What about Johanna? I've seen the two of you out on the lake together." She now asked.

"Right now, Johanna has her hands full with Sidney Bertram for the foreseeable future. Besides, she kind of has her sights set on Adam," Thomas replied.

"She told you that?" Jeanette said as she turned around to face Thomas.

"She doesn't have to tell me that anymore than Adam does. They both watch each other like hawks!" Thomas said with a small smile.

"What about David? Have you said anything to him?" Jeanette now asked as she watched the boy play with the other children.

"Not yet, but when and if I do have anything to tell him I don't foresee any problems with it. He loves you and all the rest of the Green Tree girls as much as any of the boys do. He's not as close to you as Spencer is, but only because the team planned it that way," Thomas replied.

"I think David would love the idea. The question is, how is Kenny going to react to having a big hairy monster sleeping with his Mommy?" Jeanette now looked towards the house where Kenny was sound asleep (She hoped.).

"He's woken up before with a man sleeping in bed with him, but he was a lot younger. He's never had to "Share" me with anyone before. He doesn't see Sid or Bert as a rival but more like another playmate if anything." She said.

"Than I'll just have to start sitting down and start playing with him a little more often," Thomas replied.

"Do you see him staying with you or going on to the Intermediate Campus once he reaches that age?" Thomas asked. Jeanette shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess I always assumed he would want to move up with his friends once that time came." Jeanette said.

"Maybe it's time we re-evaluate his long range plans. If Mommy gets married and starts a family, maybe he would be better off staying with his parents unless he objects." Thomas suggested.

"We've never done that before." Jeanette replied.

"I think we are; you're forgetting Christopher. I doubt that he'll ever be moved up to the Senior boys Campus." He said. "Christopher's a different story." Jeanette replied.

"So is somebody getting married. It's never been done before and things are different," Thomas replied with a smile.

"I could never move away from Green Tree." Jeanette now told Thomas.

"Nor would I ask you to. But that doesn't prevent us from spending some vacation time here when the whole family gets together would it?" Thomas asked. Jeanette looked around.

As a little girl growing up in a Brockton slum, she heard of Martha's Vineyard now and then. It was as far away to her as the moon. Now, she stood feet from the clay cliffs overlooking the water and watched the Gay Head Lighthouse beacon as it swung around warning ships of the rocky shoreline. Like Green Tree itself, the place was a secluded paradise complete with rules all its own protecting the children's way of life.

"No." she said as she hugged Thomas.

College Rules

"Just watching the sunset sweetheart. Are you guys all finished playing football?" He asked. Suzy nodded her head.

"Everybody got thirsty and went into the kitchen. I'm thirsty too." She said.

"Then I guess we all are!" Thomas replied as he lifted the girl onto his shoulders and walked back towards the house.

The invasion into her kitchen wasn't unexpected by the cook as the boys now searched the bakery trays.

"You have a full tray of raison cookies sitting there, don't you be reaching for none of them sweet buns!" Dora told the boys as they huddled around the stack of trays sitting in the cart. As Thomas and Jeanette entered the kitchen, the group had seated themselves around the large table Dora used to feed her household staff on.

"Goodness child, you look like you've been dragged through the mud!" Dora exclaimed as she poured the girl a large glass of milk as her brother put a stack of cookies in front of her.

"We've been playing football Dora." Suzy told the cook as Dora now went over to the sink and rinsed a washcloth out.

"Playin' football my foot! That's a war going on out there not no game!" Dora replied as she washed the girl's arms and face off. With the rest of the children now giggling like crazy, Thomas and Jeanette returned to the porch so Jeanette could retrieve Kenny.

With less than an hour to go before bedtime, the children's thoughts now turned towards sleeping arrangements. The mornings showers, the skinny-dip off Nashawena Island and the showers before dinner had effectively eased any shyness on the parts of either Spencer or Jesse. While they knew the estates children were not Geppetto children, nor did they even know anything about it, they did know that these kids could and did fuck like little jack rabbits at the mere suggestion. This was a turn of events that both boys would have to discuss further with Uncle Sid who had always taught them that "Outside" children were as ignorant and intolerant of things sexual as their parents were. Either their Uncle Sid was lying to them, or he didn't know what he was talking about! In either case, Spencer for one, was going to get to the bottom of it: but for now, there were other bottoms to consider.

"My daddy say's you're leaving for the mainland very early tomorrow morning. We have a really neat attic to sleep in, do you want to stay and sleep here tonight?" Richard asked Spencer and Jesse. Spencer first looked to Jesse and then on to David.

"You'll really like it; it's kind of like sleeping in Indiantown or out on the porch." David told both boys. Spencer once again turned to Jesse.

"I'll stay if you stay." Jesse told his friend.

"We have to ask Uncle Sid first." Spencer replied trying to forestall any decisions until he could get David alone and talk to him concerning a very important liquid matter.

"Richard and Karl and Jeremy don't wet." Spencer told David once he got to speak to the boy alone.

"Do any of the other kids?" He asked.

"They use to, but they don't anymore. They know I wet, but they really don't care." David replied.

"Did you wet last night?" Spencer asked. David shook his head.

"Did you?" He asked. Spencer nodded.

"So did Jesse." He said.

"So, did they make fun or laugh at you?" David asked.

"No. They didn't care." Spencer replied.

"And neither will the rest of them. I pissed when we were all together, and nobody said nothing about it. They ain't like regular kids Spencer, these guys are cool." David assured his friend.

"How come? Uncle Sid said that outside kids are just like the grownups. These kids don't act like grownups!" Spencer said.

"I asked Uncle Thomas the same thing when I first came here. He say's that there are some people outside who don't teach their kids stupid stuff about sex and stuff. Uncle Thomas says that all the kids in his family are raised free, almost like Geppetto boys are." David explained.

"What do you mean; "Almost"?" Spencer asked.

"Uncle Sid says that what Thomas's family does is live under College Rules like he did when he went to college and what Anthony had to do when he went off to college. We can say and do anything anytime we want. They can say and do anything they want to, but they have to be very careful where and when they do it because they live on the outside. They got stricter rules than we do, but they do the same stuff." David explained as best he could.

"They're just like us, they just ain't Geppetto boys."

Spencer listened carefully to his friend and carefully digested the words.

"Anthony told me all about College Rules; ya gotta go sneaking around pretending you don't do sex." He said as he thought back.

"I'd rather live in Green Tree!" he finally said.

The plan was for Spencer or Jesse to ask Sid if they could sleep over. Richard had other plans.

"Spencer wants to ask you if he can sleep over with Jesse in the attic. Can he do that?" the boy asked as he ran onto the porch and approached Sid.

"Spencer wants to ask me? When did he say that?" Sid asked the boy. With the rest of the children giggling, Richard shyly smiled.

"We were talking about it and he said he would have to ask you for permission." Richard replied.

"So where is he?" Sid asked.

"He went to the bathroom with David, he'll be right here." Richard replied.

Sid now looked to Jesse.

"What's up Doc?" Sid asked.

"They invited us to sleep over and Spencer said he'd have to ask you first." Jesse replied.

"I should think you'd have to ask your Guest's since this is their house, not ours." Sid said as Jesse shrugged.

"Let's figure out what kind of web is being weaved." Sid said as he got out of his chair and motioned for Jesse to follow him.

"I'm told you have a question for me." Sid told Spencer as he met the two boys coming out of the bathroom. Spencer shot a glance towards Jesse.

"Not me, Richard asked him." Jesse replied defensively.

"They asked us to sleep over and I just wanted to talk to David first." Spencer replied.

"Do you think it would be a good idea Uncle Sid?" The boy asked.

"You know we have an early morning. There's nothing wrong with sleeping over unless you all plan on staying up all night." Sid said.

"But that decision isn't mine, it's up to their parents to agree to a sleepover." Sid counseled the boy.

"Can we have private talk time now Uncle Sid?" Spencer now asked.

"We?" Sid asked.

"All of us." Spencer replied as he looked at Jesse and David.

"David says that these kids live under College Rules. Is that right?" Spencer asked of Sid as the four of them walked out towards the cliffs.

"I think it's fair to say that not only the children live under College Rules, but their parents do too. We have to remember, these people live in a different society than we do, so the rules are different." Sid replied.

"You also need to keep in mind that these people probably never heard of "College Rules" before, so they wouldn't know what you were talking about if you brought up the subject.

"I understand why we gotta keep the stuff we do secret from outsiders, but if these people ain't outsiders like David says, why do we have to keep secrets from them?" Spencer asked. Sid nodded his head and now fully understood Spencer's discomfort.

Sitting down in a circle just on top of the cliffs, Sid gathered his thoughts and put on his best thinking cap.

"You're bothered by the thought that you're deceiving these very nice people who have invited you into their home and now you have to keep secret's from them." Sid began.

"First of all, it's no secret to them that you guys play with each other.

It's no secret to you that they play with each other. Right?" Sid asked Spencer. Spencer nodded.

"The fact that we are Geppetto boys is no secret to many of the adults here, but That kind of information is something that the children could not understand, and it could also be very dangerous for them to know." Sid said.

"Why? They wouldn't tell on us!"

David said.

"Intentionally, no. But there are people around them who could easily trick and manipulate them, especially the younger one's, and would destroy them and their way of life. Their parents know that and do not want them put into that position." Sid told the boys.

"I've already explained to each and every one of you what the "Don't ask, Don't tell" rule is in the Military. It's the dumbest stupidest stuff in the world, but that's what keeps them happy! College Rules and what these people consider their privacy is the same thing. Certain things are left unsaid. That doesn't make it deceit or a secret. We all get skid marks on our underpants from time to time, but we don't go out and hang them up on the flagpole! All girls have periods, but they don't go waving their bloody napkins around like flags!" Sid said as all three boys now rolled around giggling.

"Does Dora know?" Spencer asked.

"Dora isn't deaf, dumb or blind but I'll guarantee whatever she knows: you'll never hear her speak one word of it. Now you have to ask yourself if Dora is being deceitful and dishonest with the people around her, or, is she protecting and respecting their privacy?" Sid asked Spencer. Spencer nodded.

Two hours earlier, the adults on the back porch watched the sun set into Block Island Sound. Now, with a mini war going on in the showers on the third floor, the moon was setting just as hypnotically.

"It's bedtime for this little one if you filled his tummy up for the night." Dora said as she walked over to Stuart's wife who was holding her baby.

"He's all yours!" the woman said as she lifted the sleeping one year old up to the cook.

"How has she been?" Thomas asked once the woman's bedroom light went off.

"We keep her dance card full on the week-ends with Paulie and Steven. During the week, she spends Tuesday's at Stuart's house and Thursday's at my house. If she end's up with too much time on her hands, we arrange for the Church to find a project to get her involved in." Charles replied with a small smile.

"She gets melancholy now and then, but when she does, someone from here in the house makes a phone call and she gets a baby dropped in her lap." Phillip said. Thomas smiled.

"Did she ever figure out we were soaking the kids diapers after the funeral?" he asked as the group now chuckled.

"Hell no! Have you ever seen the size of the knives she keeps in the kitchen?" Charles asked.

By 10:00, Sid, Barry, Anthony and Jeanette had returned to the Cottage next door along with Kenny's new baby sitter for the duration, Valerie. In the attic at the Big House, few words were exchanged between the island children and the Green Tree boys since once again, erections spoke louder than any words. By no means was Spencer ignored due to the fact that he, like the vineyard boys, were all very smoothly circumcised, but the bulk of the attention was centered on Jesse and David who still had what they were born with and this was new territory for the crowd in the attic who all wanted to see this new type of dink in action. It's fair to say that all slept very soundly that summer night.