The Circle Ch. 45

Chapter 45 – ED commercial. Fall TV season

Bob was shaking his head, "Let me get this straight, they want you and Mike to do a real television commercial for Cialis?"

Zoey nodded, "That's what the man said. He's with some Madison Avenue ad agency and claimed to have even gotten permission from NBC to talk to us about doing it. Because we're celebrities we'd get paid a premium. Mike and I agreed we'd split it, if we do it. He needs a new pickup truck, and I need new tires and other work on my car, so this comes at a good time."

"How much did they say they'd pay?"

"Fifty thousand for the two of us. I'd put the rest of mine in the general fund for The Circle, and so would Mike."

Bob chuckled, "Part of the deal ought to be that we get a fifty-year supply for the men in the house."

Zoey leaned in and kissed Bob, "The only erectile dysfunction I ever find around here is when someone can't get it up for a fourth round."

"It's because of all the sexually insatiable sirens in this house who lure the men into tangled webs of orgasmic delight."

Zoey said, "You can give me some orgasmic delight right now."

"Great. Give me a Cialis."

"You don't need any." Zoey reached down and stroked Bob's crotch through his shorts. "My God, you're hard as a rock. Come on. I don't want to fuck on camera." She waved at the camera as she kissed Bob.

Zoey glanced over her shoulder at one of the cameramen, in this case a cute younger guy named Kevin, who had been filming their discussion. He grinned at them, and then moved off to another room to see if he could find something to film that wasn't 'X' rated.

To provide closure for the TV crew before the camera left, Bob said, "Well, let's bring up the idea of the commercial to the group on Sunday night. It gives a different and commercial spin to our being on TV, especially if we're hawking an erectile dysfunction drug."

On that note, Bob and Zoey rose, and walked arm-in-arm towards the stairs and a Saturday afternoon lovemaking session.

Sunday evening, most of The Circle members sat around including Stacy who had a glow about her that was infectious, and a smile that wouldn't quit. Stacy had just been accepted into The Circle and was like gleaming light bulb of joy about the acceptance. Shortly after she found out, she told her parents what was happening, packed a couple of suitcases, and moved in.

Stacy had moved in with Matt. She had proved to be a sexually insatiable roommate with him, often making love with him at bedtime, in the middle of the night, and first thing in the morning. Matt considered Stacy one of the best things to ever happen to him or The Circle. Stacy, of course, was also sharing her love with the other men and women in the Circle from the time she got home from work until bedtime.

Sunday was the one night a week when everyone made a significant effort to be present, even the outside members such as Don, Michelle, Lynn, Tammy, Brad, and Sandy. Because it might be the first time some of the members saw each other in some time, the air was always festive and joyous.

After months of talk about governance of The Circle, Bob had accepted the hazily defined role as head of the group. The vote had been unanimous. He'd had that role almost since things started years earlier, only the move made it formal. He considered his primary role to be making sure that the right things happened to keep what he called the 'happiness index' high.

Bob called The Circle meeting to order after dinner while everyone sat with coffee and the remnants of dessert. "I have a few items for discussion, so I'll try to move things along quickly so we can get back to our party atmosphere."

He went on, "First, I have a motion for a ten percent raise for Neil, our great chef. Since he has been under spending on the food and entertainment budget, I think this is in order."

There was only support for the move.

Bob started again, "We also wanted to boost Tammy's wages by ten percent. I raise this in public because we have no secrets, however, I did talk to everyone but Tammy over the past week. I also have a unanimous vote for this one." He smiled and gestured at a very blushing Tammy.

Bob announced, "In the same area, we will henceforth be paying Lynn and Michelle, and any other universal grandmothers, at the same rate. This too was a unanimous vote. They may turn the money back to the general fund if they wish, and both Lynn and Michelle have told me that this is what they wish."

Bob paused, then said, "To these individuals especially, and on behalf of the rest of us as parents, fathers, mothers, and everyone, we want to thank you for the continued great care our children are receiving." Everyone stood and applauded the three women who blushed furiously.

"Next, the maintenance people will be pressure washing the garage and carport areas on Monday and Tuesday, so starting tomorrow morning through Wednesday morning, please park your cars on the cul-de-sac. The local police have been notified that we'll have on-street parking here, so they'll keep an extra eye on things as well as our own security staff."

Off to one side, the TV cameras rolled for the reality TV series.

Sheila raised a couple of issues around the garage and carport, including nesting birds and a hornet's nest no one else had seen.

Bob went through a couple of other items, and then said, let me turn the floor over to Zoey, who has a request.

Zoey stood at her place in the middle of the long table. She looked so pert in her short-sleeve red top, with a red ribbon in her hair. "Mike and I got a call from a Madison Avenue agency. They want us to star in a commercial about Cialis. They'd like to shoot the videos here, overlapping with the NBC crew, probably next month. I think the videos would basically be Mike and I greeting each other and looking indulgently horny at one another for long time periods while the cameras roll. I don't even think there's any dialogue because it'll all be voice over by some stentorian announcer. So Mike and I think it'd be fun, and we're asking permission. Mike?"

Mike stood. "At Bob's suggestion I did a quick pro and con analysis. Pros are that the commercial would make us more visible and popular in the media, we'd get some money – and I'd be able to buy a new truck (he smiled), NBC would get a boost in the ratings for the TV reality show and we'd get an attendant boost in revenue from that, and the possibility of others of us being asked to do commercials goes up.

"The cons or negatives are that we lose a little more of our privacy, although that seems like less of an issue these days; we'd attract more nuisance callers and visitors; and people will think all the men in The Circle have ED.

"If there are questions or other pro or con points, please let's hear them."

After about ten minutes of discussion, Bob called for a consensus vote, and everyone was in favor of Mike and Zoey doing the commercial.

A few weeks later, the commercial took a day of set up, including the delivery of props, and three days to film, and another day for all the props to disappear.

Prop number one was a hot tub. The hot tub already at the house was deemed 'inappropriate' and in the wrong location, so an entire new one was brought in staged, decked, and filled. The filming in the tub had Mike and Zoey snuggling together and making out, giving alluring glances that hinted at raw and unbridled sex with each other ... if only Mike didn't have ED. I guess the idea was, even though you're outside in a hot tub when the urge hits, you ought to have taken your daily dose of Cialis.

Prop number two consisted of two aged porcelain tubs. These were put side by side on the patio, and again Mike and Zoey sat in the two tubs and looked adoringly at one another and held hands. What being inseparate tubs had to do with having sex, no one could explain.

Prop number three consisted of The Circle's pool. Mike would come up behind Zoey and hold her in his arms and kiss her. She'd turn around, obviously with a look that signaled, 'I want to fuck you RIGHT NOW.' There was no waiting, no hesitation, and no time for some other drug – such as that of a major competitor – to take effect. Zoey's message was clear, 'Good grief, I hope you've been taking your daily Cialis.'

There were a number of other scenes taken in the kitchen, the bedroom, the living room, and even the shower, where the result was always the same – an alluring invitation by a hot woman to have sex, and she was so unbelievably horny that she didn't want to wait. The man, or victim in this case, had been religious about taking his daily dose of the expensive drug and thus would get lucky.

The rest of us in the house flowed around the filming, and the NBC film crew often tried to capture the action from behind the commercial cameras. It would make for an interesting episode of The Circle when the new season started.

* * * * *

A few months later, after the summer was over, the somewhat disjointed daily videos were pieced together into a dozen episodes for the Fall Season of The Circle. The show went back on the air the third week in September.

A late-afternoon talk show started to have an ongoing debate about some of the goings on around the house. If The Circle hadn't been known about before, it sure became known after six internationally known stars debated the activities and morals of The Circle, obviously with factions agreeing and disagreeing about what was happening. NBC couldn't control the discussion as the program was on a different network.

Shelly Longworth, aging movie star, took the first gambit about The Circle. "You know, if I were younger, I'd be on their doorstep. Imagine the hot sex all these people have with each other."

Martha Reynolds, even more aging commentator and retired news anchor, said, "You mean you approve of all the sex these people throw at each other. It's a little over the top."

"Oh, Shelly you just need to get [BLEEP]." Fortunately, the network controlled a small time delay over the spoken word. The audience roared with laughter, and everyone in TV-land knew the bleeped word had been 'laid.'

Shelly retorted, "Well, I probably do. I think this plural lifestyle would be so wonderful. Imagine feeling the love from a dozen or more other people. Think of the orgasms!"

Marcia Vassoon, the French movie actress and guest on the show, "You Americans place too much emphasis on how naughty sex is, when in fact it is one of the most loving and wonderful things you can do. Mais oui, a true act of passion."

Kanaria Porter, another actress, joined in, "But you can't love more than one person really."

"Sure you can," a couple of the others said. "I have had times in my life where I loved multiple men ... and even a couple of women." Vassoon smiled.

"Sexually?"

"Oui, sexually. It is the French way to be loving with many people. There is no limit to the number of people you can love. Why do so many people limit themselves?" The audience applauded.

Martha said, "And you believe this is the foundation for this show The Circle?"

"Mais Oui. Their whole existence is all about love. Remember in the last episode where the young man Steve broke his leg. All the women muster together to be sure he is distracted and happy. They all do things for him ... sexual things to show their love."

"Or are they just horny?"

Shelly stepped in, "Maybe horny is just accepting that we are aroused by loving in a sexual way."

Martha protested, "But you can't love everyone in a sexual way. Then you are a dissolute person and you get a reputation. You become nothing more than a swinger."

"Ah, but a swinger who loves other people is no longer a swinger. They become someone living in an open and supportive relationship in terms of mind, body, and spirit."

Kanaria said in a humorous tone, "Right ... lots of body."

The discussion went on for a few minutes, and did wonders for the ratings of The Circle the next evening. A record number of people started to watch the show.

* * * * *

One of the hallmarks of the reality TV show was a discussion Bob, Alice, and a few others had about helping to set up other polyamorous groups around the country instead of annexing the thousands who expressed interest into their own circle.

The members had decided on a course of action, and aided by Marty Graham at NBC, mailed form letters to those who expressed interest and who gave their return addresses. The key paragraph of the letter read:

If you are serious about desiring to live in a polyamorous relationship with others similarly inclined, please reply to this letter. We will be matching up people on a geographic basis, and getting together a cluster of people near you to talk further about what is involved. There is no further commitment.

Over twelve hundred letters went out, ostensibly signed by Bob Cooper and Alice Ames. A month later, the group had six hundred replies spread out across the country. The reply rate amazed everyone who heard the numbers; others at NBC had expected about a ten percent return rate, so fifty percent was phenomenal.

Alice held up a batch of letters from a cluster of people near Boston. She looked at Bob and a few others. Marty was on Skype with those in the room. Alice said, "What now?"

Bob smiled, "I think we should hold a mixer at one of the hotels in the Boston area. Some of us speak, and then we field questions for an hour or so. We anoint some small committee of volunteers to keep the effort going, and we give them a safety line to talk to us further if things start to falter or they feel like it's falling apart in some way. We have to move and do things that will help this spin-off of The Circle survive and thrive."

Marty emphasized, "And the TV cameras for the reality series are with you all the way."

"Of course."

Six weeks later, Bob stood in a partitioned off part of the ballroom at the Massachusetts Marriott Hotel. Alice stood nearby whispering to Marty who'd taken the train up that morning to attend the afternoon meeting. Together they looked out at forty people who lived within a fifty-mile radius from the hub. Thus, there were people there from six states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Bob had commented about how he liked geographic diversity.

The audience was diverse too. Marty had collected information on most of the attendees by way of questionnaire. They were diverse in about any way you could think of: economically, religion, education, age, race, color, and a few more interesting criteria.

Bob spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming, and I appreciate the kind words from you in our reception just a few minutes ago. We'll be able to talk more after a few minutes of remarks by Alice and me, and then Q&A."

Bob didn't need to introduce himself, Alice, or Marty. That had been taken care of in the specific information provided to each attendee by mailing their bios.

Bob paused and went on, "The Circle is now seven or eight years old depending on where you start counting. As you've heard if you've watched the show we have nineteen women and fourteen men in the group now, plus seven toddlers or babies, and a couple of more on the way ... that we know about."

Everyone laughed.

"The people in our group work in many different sectors of the economy, and we are multi-language, multi-racial, trans-spiritual, and economically diverse. Somehow, despite all our differences, The Circle works for us. It works because the basis for our interactions with the others – and with everyone we interact with inside or outside of The Circle – is that we love and care about them."

After Bob had finished laying out The Circle's underlying values and philosophy, Alice later stood up and spoke. "Thank you for coming and visiting with us tonight. We want to see other groups like ours form and flourish.

"I want to address one area that Bob glossed over, and I'm sure it will be of interest to most of you – Sex." Alice paused for theatrical effect, even laughing at some of the reactions to her open discussion.

"Yes, we have sex a lot. We love it, and we nurture each other in that way. It's a natural outcome of how we feel about each other. There is nothing forced, and no one ever does something they don't want to do. Our catchphrase about sex is that consenting adults can do whatever they want about sex, and we are all consenting adults and follow that creed."

A question from a woman in the audience, "How did you suddenly start sleeping with fourteen men? Did you feel kind of ... odd?"

Alice laughed and her euphemism, "I don't mind feeling slutty; it means I'm doing it right." Everyone laughed.

Alice said, "You know that Stacy and Tammy joined us a few months ago. Let me tell you their stories, because they're different in this regard. Tammy took a long time to get used to the idea of sex with multiple people, and finally she joined in. More of her story will be appearing later this season on TV. Tammy took months to decide for herself what she wanted to do. We would have continued with her whether she entered into sex with us or not because we love her.

"Stacy on the other hand, arrived with full understanding about the environment, and an eagerness to be a full participant. Within a week or so, she was indeed a full member.

"You might ask if she felt like a dissolute woman. I asked her that question, and she said, 'Whenever I'd start to feel that way someone would kiss me and reassure me that I was loved. In that environment, I couldn't help but feel love and caring back at those same people. There was no way I could feel badly about myself.'

"Because our lifestyle is so different from traditional societal values, you might expect we'd feel badly about ourselves, and we know the nasty words some outsiders call us – especially the women. We don't. I think our environment is the most supportive and growth oriented I've ever seen. People in The Circle grow and flourish in terms of self-respect, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-understanding, and self-actualization. All of those traits are the outcomes of being loved."

The questioner followed up, "Does that mean you don't like traditional family values?"

Bob stepped in, "Not at all. We were all raised with them, and appreciate that they make a huge majority of the population feel comfortable. I won't say happy, only that they find comfort and stability in the more traditional model. Many are happy, but quite a few aren't.

"The number of marriages is declining. There are more couples living together without marriage than ever before. The divorce rate continues to affect about a third to half of all marriages, and that doesn't reflect the other segment of marriages where people just sigh over their misfortune, but stick it out in a loveless relationship. If that's what you mean by traditional family values, then I'm against it; where's the love and caring that's supposed to last a lifetime? We try to reinforce that with each other every day."

Another audience question, "Are you really as physical with each other as shown on the TV show, you know going off to ... be together?"

Alice laughed at the euphemism for sex, "More so. We have toned it down for public consumption."

Bob nodded vigorously. He spoke, "Any group of people will find some stasis point that they are all comfortable with. I guess we're a particularly lusty group. I'm sure you could find some other group or establish one that is nonsexual. I think there's no end to the number and type of combinations you could assemble. That open ended future is what makes us curious what will come out of this meeting and others we'll be holding around the U.S."