For the life of me, I do not know what she is talking about, even though she just had a baby her stomach seems to be getting flatter by the day. She thinks she needs to lose a few pounds but to me she is perfect. She stands at the same height as her mother now. Even though she was pregnant, she still grew two inches taller during the last year. Kathryn stands five foot six inches. Now that she is breast-feeding her bra size is a thirty-four C cup.
Kathryn swims as much as she possibly could, as well as take care of Sam, Crystal and Amanda. We had discussed hiring someone to help, but Kathryn dismissed it saying, “It is not that hard to do after all Mom took care of eight of us.”
After lunch, Michael senior pulls me over to speak to me by myself. He begins, “JJ I have some bad news. The school board has decided that your self-defense classes are too much of a liability for the school. After this year, they are discontinuing the classes.”
A mixture of emotions run through my mind, first disbelief, then anger, sadness, and concern for the younger girls who will not have a chance at the self-defense classes. I remember back when I first learned from Ms. Clark how my self-defense classes helped the girls that were assaulted. How each of the last three years the number of assaults had steadily dropped, that during this year or so none of the girls that I instructed had been the victim of a sexual assault.
The coach explained, “They had a crackpot lawyer call up saying he was going to bring a lawsuit against the school for training their students in a deadly form of martial arts.”
I state, “By its very definition martial arts is always deadly, even boxing can be deadly and that is an Olympic sport. When you think of the Olympics you automatically think of gymnastics, track and field, swimming, although martial arts of been well established since the late nineteen sixties. Jujitsu and taekwondo are firmly established Olympic sports. It is a mixture of the two that I teach in my class.”
The coach looks at me, “I think that does not matter to them right now, politically they are scared. You can be training Olympic team right now and it still would not matter. I even threatened to quit, and that did not work. They accepted my early retirement.”
I am shocked at this news, but a few things seem to fall into place now. “Is that why the family bought the land out of state?”
The Coach shakes his head no without saying another word. Kathryn slides her arms around me; it feels good to have her there.
Daniel having heard part of the conversation clears his throat then says, “It is not just that reason JJ. I have gotten a couple threads. I turned them over to the sheriff. They managed to track down the person doing the threats. The problem is too many people know that the family is extremely wealthy and where we live. In short, we have very little security here.”
Mom joins the conversation, “I worry about the children, if you have noticed one or more of the adults are always with the kids lately. We do not even have a gate, there is very little to slow someone down from grabbing one of the girls. If it was not for Sam’s dreams and you taking them to heart, there is a very good chance those four criminals would have killed most of the family.”
The Coach continues, “There is a reason why jewelry stores have security guards. We even thought of having a gate put up down the road, with security on it, but that would not stop people from coming up the river.”
Daniel shakes his head and says, “We tried to figure out how to make this place more secure after the threats. What we found out there is not any way of doing that. You know I incorporated safe rooms in all the new houses. I know a safe room is in this house as well, the problem is when you are in the safe room you are trapped. Kathryn said you saw the plans I have been working on.”
I shake my head yes and Daniel continues, “We just managed to acquire the land all around the lake, it was undeveloped, even down the road slightly further. The public road ends with a bridge and we owned the land to that point. We will place a gate at the bridge, along with security cameras and barriers to secure the entry of the property.”
I ask, “Why did you start all this without asking me?”
The Coach takes a deep breath and says, “If we could secured this place, it would not have been an issue. Daniel’s plan was the backup until we discovered there is no way of securing this area. Even the county would not allow us to put up a security gate, even after we offered to pay for the roadway.”
Kathryn says, “We have only been working on this for about a month, two weeks ago we purchased the first track of land. We managed to buy the rest of the land that surrounds the lake yesterday. The company that was holding it had plans of developing the land for a resort. A lot of the community believes that is exactly what is going to happen, a resort constructed on that land. I have hired a construction firm from out-of-state to construct the facilities. They have some expertise with underground construction.”
Daniel smiles and says, “We can still live here, the new facilities could be used if our security is threatened in some manner. The land we will build several large homes. I have a revised blueprint of the facilities. I have added a common indoor pool, along with a hydroponics section. Part of the land needs cleared, I have added a barn along with a list of agricultural equipment we will need. It will allow us to be nearly self-sufficient if needed.”
Shake my head yes before I say, “That sounds like a great idea, we stay here long enough to maintain this is our address each year. Hire a few trustworthy people to maintain the homes here. They can even forward our mail if needed. Now that I will retire again it does not matter where I live at as long as I have my family with me.”
A month later Kathryn and I are attending the prom, they always have a few teachers attend the proms. Is not as if the chaperones are there to prevent the kids from going off and having sex, it is more like to prevent the fights. The student body invited Kathryn and I to attend which is slightly irregular.
As Kathryn descends the stairs, she astounds me yet again. The expression on my face has her giggling and she says, “Mister Meyer if I did not know better I would think you are infatuated with me.”
Smiling in my new tuxedo, I say, “Mrs. Meyer I am definitely in love with you. You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me.”
Sam descends the stairs in a beautiful dress that matches Kathryn’s dress. Her hair pulled back from her face but falls over her shoulders. I smile brightly at my daughter and say, “Oh look here my Princess is all dressed up for the ball.”
Next to come down the stairs is Crystal she too is in a beautiful dress that matches Sam and Kathryn’s dress. Smiling brightly at my second daughter I said, “Both my beautiful princesses are all dressed up and ready for their first ball.”
Mom’s there to take pictures this will probably be the last time that Kathryn and I go to a school function. I seriously doubt that any of my children will attend high school. Sam only attends my self-defense classes to complete her physical education required by her homeschool. With the school board, discontinuing the self-defense classes they will have to find a new general physical education instructor.
Daniel has been working with the construction firm. They have broken ground and have given us an estimate of completion barring any major changes we are looking at around twenty-eight months until the facilities are completed. That would be another reason why my daughters will not attend high school, when we move it will be to disappear from public life.
We take my SUV and arrive at the prom. I help my wife and daughters out to prevent wrinkling their dresses I lift them by the waste and set them on the sidewalk. Sam and Crystal giggle as I spin them around before setting them down. We happen to be one of the first to arrive, we will probably be among the last to leave.
We just made our entrance when a beautiful looking Kara and handsome Daniel enter the prom. Kara at five months along is definitely showing. The photographer takes three pictures of Kara and Daniel, one with Kara in profile showing off her belly bulge. Daniel had his hand over Kara’s belly with their wedding bands clearly displayed. The photographer took one photograph of Kathryn and me, together then one with the girls in front of us, one with the girls by themselves and together.
We find our table, of course for sharing it with Daniel and Kara the tables arranged to seat six. Deborah and Jim have the table next to us. As a song starts, Sam and Crystal take to the dance floor and Kathryn and I join our daughters. Only a few moments later Daniel and Kara join us as well.
After the third song, we return to the table, although Daniel and Kara remain on the dance floor. Quite a bit more people have arrived all looking lovely and their formal attire. Jim and Debs finally arrived nearly a half an hour late. I know he left quite a bit earlier than we did. Debs looks stunning and Jim smiles brightly as they dance on the dance floor together.
As that song ends, Kara and Daniel make their way back to our table. Jim and Debs arrive Debs is very excited and as she sets she displays her left hand which now has a beautiful engagement ring. The diamond sparkles catching Kara and Kathryn’s attention. As Debs shows her ring off to them, Jim announces I like to introduce you to the future Mrs. Deborah Sampson.
Although Jim is on the Junior varsity team, he decided to go ahead and graduate this year. This summer he will train with his father and us, he wishes to be a stock trader. He has already completed his GED, but will attend his normal classes until graduation and the student counsel allowed him to go to the senior prom.
Joan comes by she happen to be at the table next to us, along with Johnny and Janet, and Jim and Debs. Joan actually does not have a date for the evening, Joan and Johnny are both seniors, they pass through a few grades early in California. Joan as the newest senior of her class it is a little hard for her to find someone. Although she is, quite attractive with her dark brown eyes, strait black hair just pass her shoulders, and a light bronze complexion. Unfortunately, most of the senior boys have coupled up by this time. The few that have not have been are biting for her attention but she has very little interest in them.
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