Dorsai - Jan

Kelly had been listening in, and almost fell over, trying not to laugh out loud.

"What!"

"Sure. It's okay, though – everyone else was naked, too." Kelly started turning red; I was wondering if she'd blow while we were still talking.

"You're joking, right?"

"Why would I be joking?"

"Oh, dear God.", I heard him sigh.

"What, is there a problem?", I asked.

"You're sitting with my daughter on your lap, both of you naked, and you ask me if there's a problem? How did it happen that you wound up in that situation?"

"Well, when we got back from the Prom last night, we were all sitting around, and Susan decided to give back the jewelry I'd borrowed for all of them. After she handed it back, she took her dress off so she wouldn't ruin it, and so she'd be more comfortable. The rest of them thought it was a good idea, and did the same thing."

"And you?"

"It's my house. My guests want to be naked, I'm going to be a good host and be naked with them." Kelly grabbed a cushion and stuffed her face in it.

I heard him sigh again, before he said "And you're going to tell me nothing happened."

"Oh, no, plenty happened. They sat around and talked about the prom, and we had a cup of coffee. Then we all went to bed."

"Went to bed."

"Yeah. It was late. Kelly slept with me, as did a couple of the others.

Susan was with Jan and the rest."

"Naked."

"Sure, why not?"

"And you didn't have sex with any of them."

"Nooooo. Was I supposed to?"

He ignored the question, and asked "And this morning?"

"I got up and got the paper and some coffee. I was reading the paper when Susan came into the den, I could tell she wanted to talk to me, so I put the paper down, and we talked a little bit. She asked if she could sit on my lap, and I told her I was always happy to have a pretty girl on my lap. She sat down and I held her for a little while, until Kelly joined us."

"And Kelly didn't mind finding you with Susan on your lap, the two of you naked?"

"No, why should she? They're friends." I could see Kelly laughing into the cushion, her shoulders shaking.

"Go on."

"The two of them talked a bit, and we sat there for a little while, and the rest of them joined us."

"Naked."

"Sure. Why not?"

"What happened then?"

"Susan started looking around, and realized that all of us loved her, for pretty much the same reasons, and that she loved us the same way.

There was a little talking, and then she had her, uh, epiphany."

"Epiphany."

"Yeah, I suppose that's the closest thing to what you could call it."

"What would you say happened?"

"She just sort of realized that we loved her and she loved us and that everything was cool between all of us."

"Cool."

"Yeah – we loved her for the good stuff that's in her, and know that she loves us for the good stuff that's in us. That whole love and values thing I told you about."

"And all this happened with all of you naked, and Susan sitting on your lap – but no sex happened between you."

"Steve, do you love you wife?"

"Of course."

"Do you love her any more or any less, whether she'd got clothes on or not?"

"Of course not!"

"Do you have to have sex with her to love her?"

"Certainly not."

"Then why is it so hard for you to understand that I, and Susan, and Kelly, and all the others could love each other, naked or not, without having sex?"

That seemed to stop him dead in his tracks – there was nothing but silence at the other end of the line for a couple of minutes.

"You make your point well, Dan. But I'm still uncomfortable with all this."

"Fine. Are you uncomfortable that it happened, or that you don't think you know how to deal with it?"

After a bit, I heard the sigh, before he answered "More that I'm not sure how to deal with it. Nor will my wife, I'm afraid."

"Do you love Susan?"

"Of course I do."

"Then tell her that. For the same reasons, and in the same way, she told you. It's called truth, and honesty, and trust. Pretty radical concepts."

"Yes, I've heard of them. I just haven't seen them applied in quite this way before."

"Well, just look at Susan, and decide if they work, or not, for yourself."

"It's going to make quite a change around here, you know."

"So being honest and faithful and trusting in and with your family is a bad thing?"

"Bad? No, I don't think so. But it will certainly be difficult."

"Was law school good for you?"

"Yes,"

"But worth the difficulty."

"Certainly so – and your point is taken."

"Steve, I promise – once you get past the problem of actually doing it, it gets a whole lot easier. And it is definitely worth it. I think Susan would be the proof of that."

"Indeed she is. Okay, Dan, it looks like you're off the hook. We'll see later if I thank you for this, or not."

"I'm willing to take my chances. Particularly on people such as yourself and Susan."

With that, he closed the connection, and Kelly finally fell out of the chair she was in, gasping for breath as she laughed out loud. I grinned at her, and she managed to gasp out "'both naked at the time' – boy you know how to set them up and then knock them down!"

It took her probably half an hour before she finally calmed down enough to go back to studying – and even then for the rest of the afternoon, she's suddenly say "it's okay – everyone else was naked too", or "good host", or "they're friends", and start laughing all over again. Cat tried to sleep on her lap, and would give Kelly a dirty look every time she started laughing again.

Over the next few weeks, Susan continued to come over for visits, staying with us a few hours at a time. She would happily kiss and caress with any of us, but was also content to simply be with us; it was as though she were recharging some kind of internal battery. The first time she visited us, she gave me a strange look, and told me that her father had said he'd talked to me – and that he and her mother were both trying, very hard, to understand her, and what she had learned from me.

By the time Graduation day arrived, the entire school had heard that the problem between me and Jenkins had been about Kelly's speech as Valedictorian. There was considerable speculation about what it would be, and anticipation of what would happen when she was to give it. I was delighted when the Bishop let me know that a special seat had been saved for me, in the center of the first row behind the students, so that I would have a good view of Kelly as she gave her speech. He also gave me an invitation to meet with him afterwards – in the school administrators office. I willingly accepted both offers.

So it was that I had a ringside seat, so to speak, when Kelly gave The Speech, as it had come to be known.

True to his instructions, Jenkins didn't introduce her any differently than he did any of the other speakers; when the crowd quieted down (she'd gotten a standing ovation from the students), she spoke.

"Your Grace, members of the clergy, administrators, teachers, students, and honored guests, I welcome you to this graduation ceremony.

"It serves to mark the passing of this class into adulthood, and as a remembrance of the extraordinary efforts of our teachers, not just here, but throughout our academic lives, to educate us, to teach us, and to make us wiser.

"It is incumbent on us to remember their efforts, and respect them, as well as to honor those who instructed us.

"But it is also our duty to learn from what they have taught us – both in the classroom, as formal education, and in their attitudes, methods, and intentions. Part of that duty is to exercise caution in accepting all that they have taught us. Just as the world is not now what it was when they were students, it must also follow that they are not the same kind of teachers as the ones they learned from. Both the facts that they have taught us, and the environment that they taught us in, have changed.