Chapter 3

"The town is almost euphoric," smiled John to begin the Core Group meeting. "Every one of you did a super job last night at the community meeting. Ellen, you were masterful in blunting concerns about our reading CAP card details."

Andy said, "The news that the sponsors are allowed an additional 'mother' concubine was wildly popular last night. It seems the implications began to sink in after everyone went home. If the estimates are correct, and every willing woman will be evacuated, then a lot of men will be alone after the pickup. It was tough enough to think about their children gone forever. Losing their entire families is almost paralyzing."

"I told Kathy about that on Monday night," agreed Bob. "When I told her, she thought that was great. She didn't realize that it applied to *her*. It wasn't until last night that it dawned on her that she and the kids will be kissing me goodbye forever. Actually, 'dawned on' might not be the right phrase. She was shaken to her core. She cried for a long time last night. She cried hard. She still hasn't recovered."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Bob," said Ellen. "If she doesn't bounce back in a couple of days, will you let me know, please?"

Bob answered, "She'll be fine, Ellen."

"I'm serious, Bob," answered Ellen. "This is important. There can be long-term consequences if she doesn't get herself on the right side of this problem. The men being left behind are vulnerable. Andy, you and Father Frank Murray and I are going to have our work cut out for ourselves."

"I haven't spoken to Father Frank in several days," said Andy. "Since last week, now that I think about it. My experience today was much more about the men facing abandonment. Ellen, how about you and Frank and I putting our heads together on this?"

Ellen said, "I'd be happy to do that. I can meet with you tomorrow over breakfast, over lunch or after 5:00. I can meet with you any time over the weekend."

"Let me check with Frank," said Andy, "and I'll let you know. I won't be able to ask Frank in time to do breakfast, though."

Jim said, "It hadn't really registered with me how devastating this will be for the town's men. I don't really have the training, but if I can help, Ellen and Andy, please let me know.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to change the subject. Your poor ol' lawyer friend is concerned about all of the teenagers in town suddenly having all of the privileges of adulthood. Rather than have me recite all the issues, would someone please speak to the matter?"

"Amy and I," said Jean, "may be closer to this than many of the rest of you. Sarah and Michael, listen, gather your thoughts and get yourselves ready to chime in on this.

"For me," Jean continued, "it isn't that much of a leap. We could all be swept up in a pickup, and nobody would think to question that the teens are adults. You could watch as many of them fuck someone during selection as you pleased. The sponsors, at least, could have all the booze they want once they reach the transports. We are asking these young people to grow tremendously in a few months. Conferring adulthood upon them now shows that we respect and trust them completely."

Amy added, "This will be more difficult for the youngest teens. I'm afraid that, for many of them, it will be just like winning a million dollars and there's no one there to curb their impulses. Sarah?"

"As one of those teens," Sarah said, "I am honored at the show of respect and trust that the community has bestowed upon me. It is a matter of my personal honor to live up to the expectations that go hand in hand with that respect and trust. I believe that the best among us -- those who will be qualified to volunteer -- will feel that sense of honor as deeply as I do. As for the rest, it will be a test of their self-control."

"Well said, Sarah," said Michael. "Amy, I think you are correct. I guess I am one of the younger teens of concern. I will work as hard as anyone for this program. Many of the kids I know will not have the necessary self-control. I guess it will be another opportunity for some of us to demonstrate leadership."

"The other side of the coin," Steve said, "has to do with the stores, the restaurants and, yes, the liquor establishments in town. I don't think anybody means that credit should be extended to the teens. But we have already cancelled classes at the school. We haven't discussed how we will respond if the State Board of Education finds out. Maybe the worst that the State Board will do is to make us resume regular classes.

"When we give the teens full privileges of adulthood, we put every liquor license at risk. Now, I know the entire town supports the program completely. Everyone will contribute to the program. But I think it is too much to ask that an entire business be put at risk."

"If I may," answered John, "I feel it's time to share another hard truth about the cost of our plan. After the pickup, there won't *be* an Edgar, Washington anymore. Sure, the buildings will still be here. There will still be a couple of hundred mature men, young men and old women. But there won't be enough people to make a *community*. All the businesses that remain open after the pickup will go bankrupt. Almost all of the people in town will have to move somewhere else. Yeah, maybe a few shops will survive, but not many.

"This plan has the wholehearted support of the entire community. We were just talking about honor. As a matter of my personal honor, I will see to it that the burden of this plan does not fall unfairly on a few. Tomorrow, I will visit with the owners of all of the establishments in town that have liquor licenses. I will make sure the owners understand our intentions. I will make sure they understand that I have put my honor on the line."

"Oh, my God," gasped Jean. "That hadn't registered with me at all. Andy, Ellen, your work is an order of magnitude greater than I thought."

"I hadn't thought that through, either," admitted Ellen, "but I'm sure you're right, John."

Andy wailed, "But how can we put this awful truth in circulation now? How can we say to a man, 'not only will you lose your wife and children, but you'll lose your home, your job and your community'?"

"I'd like to answer that," said Bob grimly. "I didn't get that far in my thinking, either. Before I told anyone about my idea, I thought for a long time about whether I could pay the price to see my children safe. I struggled quite a bit but, in the end, I knew I would do *anything* to keep my children safe. Later, I realized I would lose Kathy, too. That was really hard. But it didn't change my resolve to pay any price to see my children safe.

"Think about what kind of shape the remaining men will be in if we make them face that ugly truth just as they have lost nearly everything already. We can't do that. To withhold such an important, devastating truth would be deeply dishonest.

"The right choice for each parent in the community is this: see the children safely away, or withdraw yourselves from the pool of prospects and move away. For some men, the price will be too high. We have to leave it up to each individual to decide whether he is willing to pay that price."

"I agree with you one hundred percent, Bob," said Ellen. "You are so deeply committed to the success of this program, and working so hard at it. We may have to call on you to talk to some of the most distressed men."

"I'll be glad to do that," said Bob. "Let's move on, OK?" There were murmurs of agreement all around. "I have recruited Matt King to work with the kids for the entire two or three months. He will teach judo and he will instruct in use of pugil sticks."

"What are pugil sticks?" asked Sarah.

Bob produced a copy of the design drawing. He explained their original purpose and told them that, despite the padding, the sticks were dangerous. The group talked about the sticks, the protective gear and more. The group reluctantly agreed there appeared to be few more efficient ways to teach aggression to girls.

Dave chimed in to talk about the balance frame he had seen at Matt's studio. He explained its use and said he had arranged to have some made for the school. Dave also reported on the boxing gloves, neoprene vests, the helmets and mouth guards he had ordered. As they discussed the matter, it became obvious that the kids wouldn't be able to cart around the mouth guards -- their gym shorts had no pockets. The guards were only needed for boxing and pugil sticks. Dave agreed to have a cabinet made to hold the mouth guards.

That led them to discuss how the guards would be identified. Amy piped up, explaining Janice's system of dividing the kids into color coded groups. Everyone thought the color-coding was a real hit.

Jean added that she and her secretary Heather had divided the kids into groups and had assigned color codes according to Janice's system. Jean had also had the lockers color-coded, four lockers per group.

Which brought them to face the fact that the girls and boys would be sharing locker rooms. The discussion was quite lively. Finally, all were convinced of the correctness of that decision. The decisions to have the students swim nude, and to strip on command, were not a great leap for the committee, and were adopted.

Sarah circled back to the idea that the students couldn't carry around their mouth guards, and asked whether Jean and Dave expected the students to keep their CAP cards with them. It was decided that the CAP cards could be used for a variety of purposes, from marking attendance and tardiness to making progress notations during training. A necklace for the cards was agreed upon. Ellen tossed in that the necklaces should be the bi-colors of the individual teams. Bob agreed to have the necklaces made. Michael was asked to use a hole punch on his own CAP card and then see that it could still be read by the scanner. When he objected, pointing out the high risk of damaging the card, they settled on the use of clear plastic sleeves. Michael was also asked to work with Jean to make some kind of card to be used by the kids who did not yet have a CAP card.

Jim said, "We have had a very wide-ranging discussion so far this evening. I hope we have all been taking good notes. I for one have had several items that I wanted to comment on, only to have the subject changed before that was possible. Can we step back a bit, please?" There was no objection.

"First, Bob told us he had recruited Matt King to help for the duration. Are we going to have to pay him? What about other 'army volunteers'?"

Bob answered, "I talked to Matt about money. I think Matt has the CAP score to volunteer and he has decided that he has enough money to coast to the finish line. He wouldn't consider taking any money for his efforts. He did promise that he would sing out if he needed help."

Jim said, "That sounds good. That sounds almost impossibly generous of Matt. Let's check back in with Matt in a month and see how his finances are holding up."

Andy said, "Matt makes one instructor lined up. How many instructors, or proctors, are we going to need? How many academic instructors? Are any more lined up?"

"I have some arranged," said Jean, "and I will tell you about them in a moment. I still need more. Tomorrow, we will hold an orientation session with all of the kids. I have some people to act as guides tomorrow who won't be able to proctor full time."

"As for the academic instructors," Jean continued, "we are planning on having 36 students at a time each in math and science classrooms. These 36 are going to be spread equally over five grade levels. Right now, I think we can only afford to have a total of four teachers in the two classes. We will be asking these four teachers to be teaching in an unstructured, accelerated, intense pace for a full eight hours a day. I want to let these classes self-organize. Let's see what the kids can do to get themselves and their teammates educated. No volunteers here -- this is going to be hard work. I have drafted the ninth through twelfth grade teachers for this duty. I'm holding Amy, our own eighth grade teacher, in reserve. I just know there'll be something we've forgotten. Also, there remains a great deal to be organized and executed. Amy's been volunteered for that responsibility.

"Dave, the coach and gym teacher, still has responsibility for grades one through seven. He will be scaling back his direct teaching and supervision of the gym periods for these kids, and shifting the duty to the grade teachers. Dave will spend as much of his time as he can watching and helping the physical training.

"Now," sighed Jean, "tomorrow during the orientation, two six-member teams will be guided by me, Dave, Amy, Toni Benedict, Susan Jackson, Carol Thomas, Janice Nelson, and Patti Hanson from the school staff. Also leading orientation groups will be Bob, Sarah's mom Gabby Edwards, and twins Katie and Kevin Lasher, who graduated last year.

"Toni, Susan, Carol and Janice are the academic side of the program starting on Monday. Patti will need to keep close to the first aid station.

"That leaves us with Matt, Gabby, Katie and Kevin as confirmed help. In addition, I was able to recruit Liz Andrews, a former cheerleader, and Jeff Peters, a former gymnastics team member, as permanent trainers. The plan is to train the kids to do back flips and handstands. If either of those don't work out, then they'll have to learn to juggle.

"Gabby has graciously agreed to work with Karen Innes, our Home Ec teacher, in the Home Ec element of the physical training. Having the boys sew their own clothes should be humbling. The girls have a natural opportunity to show leadership.

"We haven't made arrangements yet for anyone to advise and supervise the outdoor running, the balance beam thingy, or the swimming portion. Does anyone have a victim we should draft?"

Bob said, "I haven't told you yet, but I have decided to devote full time to this program myself. It isn't completely altruistic -- I hope being involved in this will do some good for my CAP score. I kinda like Kathy, and I wouldn't mind growing old with her. Besides, she's almost unbearably sexy when she's pregnant!"

Everyone laughed. "And your favorite sport is baby making!" laughed John.

"All right, Bob, you're hired," said Dave. "You may not like the remuneration. We'll hold you to the same promise that you extracted from Matt: if your finances deteriorate, you tell us."

"I will," nodded Bob with a smile.

"One more," said Jim. "I'm afraid, Jean, that you're gonna have to call up the reserves. Don't you want to volunteer your Heather?"

"I suppose you're right," sighed Jean. "The State Board will have a fit anyway. Heather just volunteered."

Andy said, "I don't think any one of those three, or Bob either for that matter, will want to spend eight hours a day, five days a week out on the running track. Maybe these four should rotate -- two hours each outdoors and the rest indoors."

"That is a very good idea, Andy," said Dave. "I'll work something out for that."

"Folks, it's getting late already," said John, "and I worry we have more to cover. Can we move to the next topic, please?"

Ellen said, "Let's turn our attention to the back office portion of this project. Michael is working on the database that is so important to the success of this project. Michael, will you give us a report, please?"

"Sure doct… err… Ellen. I suppose you're gonna insist I use your first name, too?" She grinned and nodded. "OK, then. You have made me very proud of myself by asking me to perform such an important task. I have had to rely on Jean a lot so far, so I would like her to join me in making this report." Jean smiled.

Michael continued. "Jean helped me collect all of the data from the school. For the students, that includes the address, the names of the parents and siblings. If the student's parents have siblings in town, it shows those relationships and it shows any of that student's cousins. Also captured is fairly complete information on all of the teachers and staff in the school, including addresses and spouse names.

"The CAP card readers arrived on Tuesday. I hooked it up to my laptop and used it to scan my own card and a few others. It seems to work perfectly. The problem is how do we identify all the folks who aren't connected to the school in some fashion? Jean pulled a rabbit out of her hat. I'm gonna let her take some of the limelight."

"Aw, shucks, Michael," smiled Jean. "I didn't really do anything special. My neighbor is the postmaster. I had a cup of coffee with her. Of course, she couldn't do anything officially to help us -- privacy, you know. But she encouraged the five postal carriers to sit down with Michael and his friends. Michael met with Tammy Robinson on Wednesday morning at the café. Two and a half hours later, Tammy had recited the 122 names of everyone on her mail route.

"Later, Michael and I put our heads together, and figured out a way to speed up the work. This morning, Michael and three of his friends met with the last four carriers. How many names are in the database now, Michael?"

"Eleven hundred eighty seven," answered Michael. "Except for the people who move back into town, that seems to be the maximum universe of our possible extraction population. We don't know yet how many of them are unwilling to participate. We don't know how many are unqualified. That's why scanning the CAP cards is critical.

"By the end of the night last night, the database had CAP card scans for a total of 167 adults and 53 students. We needed to get a lot, a lot more CAP cards scanned, and we don't have a lot of time. Jean came to the rescue again."

Jean grinned. "We already owe Joe Butto a lot for hosting Michael interviewing the mail carriers two mornings in a row. Now we owe him even more. Michael made the database self-serve -- even I was smart enough to use the dumb thing. Heather used it, too, and she had to manually add her youngsters and her boyfriend. I called in chits on the grocery store, the bank and the café. Michael borrowed the equipment from his friends and installed computers in those three places. Michael corralled a bunch of his friends to distribute fliers all over town, asking people to go by any of those places and scan their CAP cards. Michael, how many have been scanned by our self-serve method?"

"Amazingly enough, those computers have been installed for about twelve hours. Just a minute while I do the math. The self-serve has resulted in 217 scans. Wait, there's another one, so 218." So, that's 438 scans captured so far." Michael was grinning broadly.

Andy said, "I think on Saturday you should have one installed at my church and one at the Catholic Church."

"I will," said Michael.

"You can put one in my bakery," added John.

"I don't know how many network-capable laptop computers I can scrounge up," laughed Michael.

"Can you upgrade the school's equipment?" asked Jean.

"Yes," Michael answered. "I had been trying not to spend any money, but I guess I should. It won't cost too much, I don't think. Can I get to the equipment tomorrow or Saturday?"

"Yes," Jean said. "We still need more 'get-out-the-vote' type workers. We need to encourage more people to self-serve scans."

"Let's work on that tomorrow, Jean," said Amy. "I think I might have some ideas."

"One more thing," said Michael, shaking his head. "I forgot to put in a question about whether the user is expecting the return of any elder children or such. I added that question this evening, but a couple hundred records don't have an answer. Sorry."

"You can add that without having to go to the remote locations?" Jim asked. "Cool!"

Jean said, "We'll deal with that some time in the future. It is pretty late already. I for one have had an exhausting day. Tomorrow will be full as well. I need to get home. Is there anything else we need to cover tonight?"

Bob said, "I would only like you to think about a few more challenges we'd like to throw at the kids. I don't want to talk about them tonight. I think the kids should learn to shoot a target, and shoot skeet. I think we ought to consider paintball for the kids. John Underwood is investigating all those things."

"Tomorrow, the kids get orientation. Monday, the program starts in earnest. I think we should plan on meeting again on Monday night."

"May we postpone the meeting until Tuesday night?" asked Andy. The entire group agreed.

Bob's report to the Core Group about Kathy breaking down on Wednesday night had been the truth, as far as it went. Bob had decided he didn't need to share the rest of Kathy's reaction. The tears had started as they had readied themselves for bed. Kathy's anguish seemed to grow as the weight of utter despair settled on her. The tears started quietly. Soon, Kathy was bawling inconsolably. She drew him to her and hugged him fiercely. Suddenly, he was on his back. She had his cock in her mouth and was jacking the base furiously. Before he knew it, she straddled him and plunged herself onto him in one stroke. Still bawling, she proceeded to fuck him senseless. It was the most intense bout of sex he could remember. By the time they were done, her tears were gone. She rested her chest on his and was silent. Bob decided she would let him know when he should say something. They fell asleep.

During the night, she woke him with hungry, needy kisses. Soon, she pulled him over her and guided him deep within her. Still kissing him intensely, she hugged him fiercely and threw her hips up to meet his every thrust. When they were finished, she guided him to lie beside her, his cock still buried deep within her. Still she didn't speak. She kissed him gently. They fell back to sleep.

In the morning, with window light filling the room, he awoke to find her gently, sinuously worshiping his rigid cock with her mouth, tongue and hands. She poured everything into the act, all the love she felt so deeply. When he raised his head to see, he found her looking deeply into his eyes, her intensity and her deep love painted all over her face.

Even with her slow, loving pace, he couldn't hold back very long. He flooded her mouth with great gouts of his spend. Still holding his eyes, she swallowed, licked her lips and swallowed again. She proceeded to gently suck every drop from his softening cock. When she was done, she crawled up and delivered a soft, long, loving kiss. Still she said nothing. She climbed off the bed and padded into the bathroom, her naked ass swaying.

He didn't have to worry about morning wood, but he desperately needed to pee. After giving her what he thought was enough time to be first, he followed her into the bathroom. As he entered, she stepped back into the bedroom. When he had finished his business and returned to the bedroom, she was gone. He pulled on his robe and headed for the kitchen.

He found her there, sitting at the table with coffee. A mug of coffee for him was on the table in front of the seat across from her. He seated himself and was quiet. She alternated looking at him and down at her coffee cup. The tears began to run down her cheeks, but she was smiling coyly.

She spoke quietly, "I got myself prepared to see our children go away forever. I knew we had to do that. I knew I would always have you to comfort me in our loss. But I hadn't thought about *me* being extracted. In my mind, I was going to stay with you. Bob, we've been together since the Junior Prom. By now, you are half of who I am. You already figured out that you'll lose your whole family, didn't you?" He nodded sadly. "You think I have to go, don't you?" He nodded again. "Then I'm taking as much of you with me as I can. I'm getting 'Essence of Bob' injections morning, noon and night. By the time I go, you'll be dried up like a prune. It'll take six months before you *think* about sex again."

"Kathy, you don't have to do that," he said.

"Oh, I'm not doing that for you," she answered ruefully.

"Quiet down, please," called Mrs. Stevens, the Principal. The assembled students, the entire eighth through twelfth grade classes, settled down and the noise level dropped. "You all know the results of the community meeting held the other night in this very room." She stepped down from the stage, cordless microphone in hand, and began to stroll down the middle of the room, looking over the students in the bleachers on one side of her and then the other.

"You also know that your high school careers are over." The room erupted in cheers. She held up her one free hand to quell the noise. "I'm very glad you feel that way right now. I know you are excited about the coming extraction. I sincerely hope you will embark upon this next phase with every last bit of your hearts and minds. Let me tell you the stakes.

"Boys, there are 71 of you. If we, all of us, work very hard, then perhaps 20 of you will be able to volunteer and be extracted. Girls, there are 73 of you. We all know the CAP tests discriminate against you, mainly because girls are hard-wired against the kind of aggression needed by the Confederacy. If you work very hard, then perhaps 5… of you will be able to volunteer and be extracted. We hope you will take at least 5 boys with you.

"Now, here is the other side of the coin. Every one of you girls will be extracted, if you are willing. We want you to go, all of you. Those of you who qualify as volunteers will be the heads of your households and will serve the Confederacy in some capacity. For those of you girls who do not qualify, you will be the slaves of a volunteer. Two years from now, you will have had a baby… and you will be pregnant. You can count on delivering a baby at least every other year for a long time.

"Boys, the CAP testing discriminates in your favor, but the odds remain against you. As I told you, perhaps 20 of you will qualify as volunteers. Perhaps 5 of you will be extracted as the slaves of the volunteer girls. For the remaining 45 or so of you, in two or three years, well, the Swarm will be here by then, and I guess that's enough said. No, I changed my mind. Let us be crystal clear the stakes we are facing. For those of you boys, and the men in town who will not be able to go, in two or three years… you will be conscripted into the Army and fighting the Swarm."

She let her words hang in the room like a pall. She continued her stroll, but she kept her eyes on the floor in front of her. There was no other sound for nearly five minutes -- a truly long time for so many teenagers to be stunned into silence. Finally, the murmurs began.

"Now that I have your attention," and she got the chuckles she wanted, "I will tell you what is in store for you. You cheered that you are no longer students. From this moment forward, you are no longer boys and girls. You are men and women, all of you. You are adults, with all of the freedom, and all of the responsibility, that that implies.

"We have designed -- we are still in the process of designing -- a program which is intended to enhance your CAP scores. It is going to be hard, very, very hard for you. Think of pre-season football practice four hours a day, plus class work in mathematics, chemistry and physics at the accelerated rates of summer school. It will be truly awful, relentlessly awful. Many of you will think back fondly of your school days.

"But the goal of this program is this: at the end of the program in about two or three months, nearly all of you will be re-tested for your CAP scores. Every one of you girls who reaches a 6.5 score for the first time qualifies to rescue a boy -- excuse me, a man -- and two other people, as well as yourself. Every one of you boys who reaches a 6.5 score for the first time qualifies to rescue three people as well as yourself. Every one of you who already has, say, a 6.7 and re-tests to a 7.0 can rescue two more people than before. The same if you reach 8.0 or 9.0.

"We do not expect this program to magically make you all volunteers. On the contrary, most of you will be worked to exhaustion every day, and will STILL fail to qualify as a volunteer. Look around you. MOST of the men you see will not be evacuated. We expect, the entire town expects, you to give one hundred percent of your mind and body to this program. We want you to EXPECT to succeed, expect to master the skills we will teach you, expect to know the material we will teach you.

"At the end of the program, you will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, bend steel with your bare hands, and solve calculus problems in your head." The room erupted in laughter. She let the noise continue for a while as she paced the floor, head down. Presently, she raised her hand again, bringing quiet.

"All right. This will be the last time your high school class level is mentioned. There are tables over there for each class. On the tables you will find a color-coded paper with your name on it. You have been assigned to one of twenty-four groups of six, with at least one person from each grade level. The two color coding works like this: there are six primary colors. We have also used the four colors brown, black, white and gray. So your card will have two colors, one of which is a primary color. So you might be assigned to the red-and-white, or the orange-and-white, or the red-and-black or the orange-and-black, and so on. There are six in your primary group. Say you are blue and gray. You will also belong in two secondary groups. All blues would include blue and brown, blue and black, and so on. These are groups of 24, being 6 times 4. As a blue and gray, you will also belong to the secondary group of all grays, with the red and grays and green and grays, and so on. Those are groups of 36, being 6 times 6.

"When I tell you to go, I would like you to collect your paper and then assemble in your six-person groups. You will see the six primary colors on the walls around that end of the room. Go stand under the primary color and then find the rest of the group in your secondary color. When you have finished, I want your entire six-person group to sit down together. The browns and whites on this side of the room, the blacks and grays on that side. Now, go."

The still-shocked youngsters made remarkably good time getting themselves organized and back in the bleachers. The talking was restrained and mostly quiet. The six-person clusters could be seen in the bleachers, with some space separating them from the other groups. Fortunately, the four color signs were noticed above the bleachers and only a few groups had to move from one end of the bleachers to the other, where they belonged.

When they had settled in, Coach Franklin started to speak. "Jean has had the floor long enough. That lady sure can talk!"

"Don't call me a Lady!" Jean snorted. The youngsters laughed.

Dave continued, "Now you are in your six-person groups. Let's call these your team. There are 24 teams. After I get tired of yammering, we will divide ourselves and go on a tour of the newly-changed facilities. First, I want you to have an overview of the program.

"The Confederacy wants men and women who demonstrate loyalty, obedience, aggression, leadership, willingness to follow, intelligence, initiative and wisdom. The program we have established will, hopefully, instill and strengthen these traits in you. The success of your team is everything. The objectives we will set for you must be achieved by every member of your team. If one fails, you all fail. We have intentionally designed objectives that are easier for some of you and harder for others. Sometimes your size and strength will be an asset, and sometimes a liability. Each of you will find ways to demonstrate your leadership and your willingness and ability to assist your teammates. You will demonstrate your absolute obedience by unhesitatingly performing tasks that may be humiliating, or gross, or otherwise unpleasant. It will become abundantly clear if anyone in a team is not respected and admired by the rest. If we must step in, we will, but your whole team will regret the results.

"You will have four hours of classroom instruction daily, in two, two-hour sessions. One session will be mathematics and the other will be science. Your teams intentionally have members from all five grades. You will demonstrate leadership and determination by figuring out how to get yourselves educated and get your team members educated. Several teams will be in the same room during these sessions. There will be a number of instructors, but not five instructors. These sessions will have to self-organize.

"You will train outdoors, running and doing other physical training. You will train indoors as well. Your team will locker together, with four lockers assigned per team. The brown and gray will use what was the girls' locker room, and the black and white will use the boys' locker room.

"On Monday, please bring with you a pair of outdoor running shoes, a pair of indoor gym shoes, a pair of sweats, two pair of gym shorts and two tee shirts. Jock straps and sports bras are optional. Do not bring anything else that you wouldn't want stolen. Do bring your CAP card, if you have one.

"For those of you not paying attention, I just called out eight hours of work every day. Sessions begin at 8:00 sharp. You will have a 30 minute lunch, supplied by the school. In addition, because of the great physical demands, quantities of food and beverages will be available throughout the day. Dismissal is at 4:30. Any member who is late without permission will cause the entire team to make up the time at the end of the day. Any member who is absent without permission will cause the entire team to make up the day on the next weekend. The rest of the team has to work the entire day of absence and the entire makeup day.

"It is now just after 11:00. In groups of two teams, you will be escorted to the cafeteria for lunch, and then on for a tour of your new torture chambers. I will lead two teams. Jean will lead two. Also taking two teams each are Amy Rogers, our *former* eighth grade teacher, and likewise unemployed Toni Benedict, 9th grade, Susan Jackson, 10th grade, Carol Thomas, 11th grade, Janice Nelson, 12th grade, and Patti Hanson, the school nurse. Also assisting are Gabby Edwards, Sarah's mom, Bob Minter, whose idea this was in the first place, and twins Katie and Kevin Lasher, who graduated last year.

"The next step is pretty simple, really. Your leaders have primary color cards. Please come down from the bleachers and gather around the leader with your color."

This took a little more brain power and there was some confusion before all of the students were with their guide. Finally, they were led down the hall to the cafeteria. This was routine for the students. They went through the lines, collected their lunches and made their way to tables. The guides kept their teams together.

When nearly all were seated, Dr. Waters came into the cafeteria. "Can I have your attention, please?" she said in a rather loud voice. When the room noise had abated, she continued. "I think all of you know me but, just to be sure, I am Ellen Waters, the family doctor for most of the town. I know you got a whole lot of information in the gymnasium, some of which may have been a shock. I want to explain and expand upon some aspects of that information.

"You are no longer students in the traditional sense. Jean told you that you are now adults, and have all of the rights and responsibilities that go with adulthood. In two or three months, that will be absolutely true. But for now, you really are in an in-between state. You will be treated as an adult wherever you go in town. If you want to go into the tavern and have a beer, they will serve you. At the same time, you have to go home to your mom and dad every night. They may object to you being carried home dead drunk. They may take issue with you bonking your girlfriend in their TV room.

"We talked about this at the community meeting. The community is in favor of you being considered adults. They like the idea. The reality may be a little harder to swallow. Dads especially have a hard time when it comes to thinking about their little girl having her cherry popped.

"What I'm trying to say is, take it slowly. If you really want to sit on a barstool and have a drink, invite your parents to go with you. I think there are three possible outcomes. They may go with you. They may voice objections, but allow you to go. They may strenuously object. If that's the case, then you need some help. I will help you discuss with your parents. Jean will help you. Ask someone in authority for help.

"Whatever you do, *please* do not be sneaky about your doings. Well, you don't have to make your parents watch you have sex. But please be as honest and candid with them as they ask. Some parents won't want to know anything about it. Some will want to know, but will be very supportive. And please, please use moderation in all things, especially all new things.

"So, now you can go booze it up, and now you can get rid of your awful virginity. Yes, ladies, most of you will be popping out babies beginning right after extraction. The trouble is, you don't know which of you are going to be sponsors. The Confederacy doesn't mind a bit that newly extracted sponsors are pregnant. The trouble is, you may miss an opportunity to do something really cool if you choose when to bear a child, rather than letting the Confederacy choose. So, here is my offer to you: I will fit you with a contraceptive IUD or, while you are still a virgin, I will prescribe the Pill for any or all of you. The condition is that I will tell your parents. They should know. They should not object. If they do strenuously object, the deed will already be done. But I will meet with them. I strongly prefer an IUD if it can be used. Those of you using the Pill now should come see me to have an IUD fitted.

"I am not saying that you have to have sex, or even that you should have sex. I would especially discourage the youngest of you from rushing into sexual activity, or at least full penetration. And I will say right now that anyone who forces or coerces someone else into having sex is in deep shit.

"So congratulations for your promotion to adulthood. The adults in the community mean this as full measure of their pride and trust in you. The community expects you to treat this as a matter of your personal honor. Do not dishonor yourselves. I hope you will be wise and careful. You have a difficult two or three months ahead of you. Please do not get injured. Please make sure you do not injure anyone else. I will be around if you do get hurt. Patti Hanson will keep the clinic open all day, every day. Good luck!"

When the meals were finished, the guides collected their charges and left in various directions. Some started the tour outdoors. All of the students had run the schoolyard. A few knew the course for the 5 K run.

The students were introduced to a wooden form, studs on end. The goal, it was explained, was to have each opponent stand on the wood and try to force the other to step off. Each guide had a couple of kids try. It looked easy, but it wasn't. Strength wasn't particularly advantageous. It was explained that the objective was for the entire team -- all six of them -- to prevail against at least one other team.

Likewise, jumping rope was thought to be easy. When two ropes were produced and spun in opposite directions, the kids were introduced to Double Dutch. Again, not as easy as it looked. Here, the objective was a smooth transition from one member to the next, through the entire team, without stopping.

Indoors, several classrooms had been cleared out and dedicated for use by the program. The gymnasium would be used occasionally, but the lower grades were still in regular session and needed access to the gym themselves.

One room had mats on the floor from wall to wall. The students were introduced to Matt King, who operated a Judo studio in town. Matt gave little demonstrations for each incoming group. Matt also explained and demonstrated the pugil stick, which was about four feet long with a big foam pad on each end. Matt had a number of students try the pugil sticks -- very slowly and carefully. Matt explained that protective gear was required before use of the very dangerous pugil sticks. Matt also pointed out that the next door room was devoted to boxing, again with much protective gear. Matt told them they were pretty much on their own to learn how to box.

Katie and Kevin led their groups into the swimming pool room. All of the students were familiar with the pool. They were stunned when both Katie and Kevin sharply instructed their charges to strip. Katie and Kevin started rapidly undressing themselves. As they finished, they instructed the kids to swim a lap in the pool. Kevin dived in and swam away. Katie turned to the students, some of whom were frozen in shock, and loudly ordered them to undress. She made no attempt to cover herself. As the kids finished undressing, she held them from jumping into the pool.

By the time the last of them was completely undressed, Kevin finished his lap and climbed out of the pool right in front of them. "OK," he said, "let's get this over with, so there is no more foolishness about it. Everybody hold your arms away from your body. Have a good look at everybody else. When you get bored looking, you can jump into the pool and swim a lap."

While they gawked at each other, Katie said, "You guys are going to change clothes and shower together every day for the duration. I know you boys with a hard-on are mortified, and I know you girls are fascinated. Get over it. You can play doctor with each other some other time. You'll probably be trading bodily fluids before the program is over. Take a last good look at me and then do your lap."

Katie and Kevin had brought a dozen kids each. Into the pool they went in twos and threes. Katie jumped in last and swam off. Kevin ambled over to the cart and collected enough clean, dry towels for the lot. He carried them back and began drying his hair and body. He made no effort to cover himself.

By the time the kids were finishing their lap, two more groups had arrived. They had been led to the other end of the pool. They had had the same reaction to being ordered to strip and swim. As with Katie and Kevin, both of the leaders had stripped, and one had dived in and begun a lap. As before, the remaining leader, now nude, was shouting at the students, ordering them to obey. Soon, splashes were heard as the new students began their ordeal.

Katie and Kevin's charges climbed out of the pool and began drying themselves off. As they did, they watched their friends reach their end of the pool and turn to go back. Somehow, their own nakedness seemed less burdensome. They turned to their own clothes and began to dress. The pace was leisurely and there was no real attempt to hide themselves. When they had finished dressing, the party moved on to the next area.

Bob led his group into yet another class room. It also had wall to wall floor mats. Liz Andrews, a recently graduated cheerleader, and Jeff Peters, a recently graduated gymnast, were there for a demonstration. They explained that every member of every team would learn to do a standing back flip -- which Liz then executed -- and would be required to walk on their hands for ten yards. Jeff promptly did a handstand and walked around the room. The students were flabbergasted.

To ease their shock, Jeff and Liz had the students make a pyramid. The three boys went to their hands and knees, side by side. Two girls were guided onto their hands and knees, but on the backs of the boys. The last girl was helped up to the top of the pyramid and placed on her hands and knees atop the two other girls. Once the pyramid was stabilized, Liz mentioned that they would be required to assemble the pyramid in thirty seconds. While the students climbed down from their pyramid, Jeff told them that they would have to master the harder, standing pyramid. Jeff and Liz then jumped Liz into a standing position atop Jeff's shoulders. "Yes, that's right," Jeff said, "a three, two, one pyramid standing up. That practice will have to take place in the gym. The ceiling is high enough and the mats are thicker."

Eventually, all of the groups returned to the gymnasium. When they had settled in, Jean made closing remarks. "Now you have seen some of your objectives. We have others that will be sprung on you at the appropriate time. We told you this would be difficult, and now you begin to see that we mean it. I hope you are not discouraged. We have no doubt that your performance will make us all proud and make you especially proud of yourselves. I know you will work hard and help your teammates be successful. We will see you here on Monday morning at 8:00. For now, you are dismissed."