And He Called It Research

"So how many in that group?"

"Well, there were about a dozen or so from the old group, but other's joined them so I'd guess...oh, maybe twenty, twenty five now. They meet in Harold...you remember old Harold don't you?"

"Yeah, I think I do."

"Well it's his son, and they meet in the basement of the old house. Rustic, but it works for them and I have to admit, they live pretty clean lives. Maybe even more so than when they went to church."

"So nobody preaches," Earl asked.

Jacob sipped his coffee and smiled and said, "Nah, there isn't much in the way of religion there. More like they use the golden rule kind of idea. Oh and they don't pass a collection plate anymore," and he laughed.

"So what is the average age now? Mac asked him.

"Well, the senior member is Mark Hightower, and he's maybe...oh forty nine or fifty I think. The youngest would have to be Misty Carpenter."

"Would that be Gina Carpenter's daughter?"

"Yeah and she's maybe...I guess she has to be in her later twenties now. Well Gina is still with the group, so she has to be close to Mark's age, but she don't look it."

Earl had a concerned look as he said, "So the age range is thirty to fifty?"

"That's about it, but you'd have to know Mark cause he's all about being fit. He don't look fifty I'm here to tell ya."

"So Jacob," Mac said as he looked down at his coffee, "If Earl and I were to ask to visit them Sunday and tell them what we're about, and some good words got out in advance, how many do you think might show up?"

"You said something about getting something for nothing right?"

"That's right and it's straight up."

Jacob smiled and told them, "Well I can only guess of course, but I'd go with maybe twenty five or thirty. People just can't resist a bargain and free is even better. Would guests be okay?"

"Only if they think and believe as the others do. It wouldn't do for example to have some people thinking like twenty year olds and others like fifty year olds."

"Oh, I understand...I think."

Earl stepped in and said, "Well we'd ask them to fill out a questionnaire to help us understand them and see if they would fit our needs. This is about research after all so certain details must be considered."

"Yeah, I forgot about the research part."

"Okay so if we were to arrive with a couple of urns of hot coffee and seven or eight dozen sweet rolls and donuts, we might get their attention?"

Jacob laughed and said, "That would be a hell of a good place to start."

"And would you be willing to sort of put out the word."

"Yeah, but what would you want me to say?"

"We have it all written out so you don't even have to remember anything."

"Sure. I'll call a few of them and sort of get their opinion and of course they'll call others."

Earl looked at Mac and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think it's worth a try at the very least. The worst that can happen is we'll spend a few bucks on coffee and donuts."

Earl smiled and said, "That's true enough." He pulled a paper from his trusty briefcase and said, "Jacob, this is all you'd have to say to the ones you call, and here's a few dollars for allowing us to inconvenience you."

"Oh you don't have to..." but that's as far as he got because he was looking at five one hundred dollar bills. "Oh shit."

"You see Jacob, we're very serious about what we do and we want to be sure that the others understand that what we will be saying, as unbelievable as it may sound, will be all true."

"In fact," Mac added, "If anything, we'll be understating it so we don't scare them off with all of the details."

"Oh man this will rock the old group to their roots. Okay, so next Sunday and they always meet at ten o'clock. I'll give you the address and I'll meet you there a little before ten."

"Thank you, and I do believe we're getting ready to really change some lives."

"I'll just bet you are, and I don't even know the details."

"Well you will know next Sunday."

"Will I be filling out a questionnaire?"

"Of course, we don't want to leave anybody out."

"This is wild. Mac, you always could get into neat situations."

"I've been lucky beyond my dreams buddy." Then standing up he said, "Well, I have no say in it, but here's to Sunday morning, and I hope you're one of the chosen ones."

"Thanks man, and thanks for thinking of me."

"You bet," and he and Earl walked out into the heat of the Missouri sunshine.

Chapter Twenty Five

Nine forty five Sunday morning found Earl and Mac getting out of their car and Jacob stepping over to them. "Jacob," Mac said, "If you would carry one of these urns I'll get the other and then we can get the food."

"Damn, you sure bought enough goodies."

"It wouldn't look right if we were look cheap now would it."

"I get your point."

Mac and Earl met Harold junior, and Mac was carrying in the last of the rolls when others started to arrive. Mac shook many hands and was surprised by how many of them he remembered, at least by first names. He and Earl stood in the back as Harold started things off. No prayers and no praise, and in minutes Harold introduced Mac and Earl.

Mac started off with his best version of 'Aw shucks' and 'Good to be home again,' and made it a point to single out different ones that he could remember just to say hi. Then he turned everything over to Earl who went into his sales pitch. On through what the island was like and what he kept referring to as a partial list of amenities, though it was pretty comprehensive. "Now just so you'll know I'm telling the truth, the island has been used by many groups of people over time. It's in pristine condition, but that means that some amenities won't be to your liking. We do our best to accommodate all of our guests though, so we would just ask you to be tolerant of us. As I mentioned early on, this is about research of human nature. Undergraduates and graduates would be studying the data that we provide for them. Nothing with the guests name is ever shared with anybody on the island or off. We are interested only in what we observe and with the questionnaires that you fill out each evening. To put it another way, any of you that might get to go would be totally anonymous. Also we don't want your financial history and in fact that kind of data would contaminate our research. This truly is a free vacation, completely funded by a wealthy gentleman that believes in what we do."

Earl stopped and sipped some water and the audience was barely breathing as they waited for more information. "We're going to ask each of you that is interested, to fill out a questionnaire today. Based on that questionnaire and possibly a follow up interview, people will be selected to go to the island for two weeks. You'll come home feeling like a new person and I can guarantee that you will come home well tanned and with many stories to tell your friends."

Again he paused as he looked out over the many pairs of eyes staring back at him as he said, "Data will be put into our computers and it will be the computer that will make the final selections, and will be responsible for many of the decisions that would be made during the days on the island. The maid staff certainly wouldn't, nor would the chefs, the bartenders or anybody else on staff and I wouldn't even be there. Okay now about the bad part of all of this. Just because one half of a couple is chosen, that wouldn't mean that the other would be. Each person would be judged independently." He studied their reaction and then dramatically said, "Yes I understand and I'm so sorry that it must be that way. But research doesn't consider matters of the heart as a primary criteria for selection. Okay, before we go any farther, let's pass around the questionnaire and see just how many of you might even be interested in participating in this program. If there is enough interest then we'll continue from this point. Oh and one word of caution. This questionnaire is very very personal, but for good reason, and like I said, we aren't interested in your full names, so please be honest and complete with your answers. If you're married not even your spouse would ever know what you put on the form." Then he smiled and added, "This is that one time where you can completely bare your soul; your deepest secrets, and nobody in the world will ever know who wrote what. We once had a gentleman that had a strong foot fetish and he put that on the form. We don't know the who or why and it just didn't matter except to the university. The computer added that to his profile and life went on for everybody. You'll be given a number and be sure to hang on to that and the notification of selection will be by email. If you don't have email then you'll have to trust us with your phone number."

Every hand went up for the sheet of questions and a number tag, and minutes later they were getting pencils, and then working at the two eight foot tables at the back of the room. . "While you're studying the questions," Mac said, "I'll give you another example of what Earl was talking about. We've had any number of women of all ages that had the strong desire to spend their time on the island naked to the waist. I'm happy to say that they fulfilled that desire and again, everybody went home in good spirits. Other's have been totally naked just as we were all created. They walked the beach, had long talks with others in the shade of the palm trees as they watched the ocean and couldn't have been happier. We don't judge nor do we impose a lot of silly rules. If nudity pleases you then wonderful, because this is the one place in the world where it is encouraged. If you and your mate get amorous in a chaise lounge down the beach somewhere, then that's great too. Each of us must set our own boundaries and not fall to the temptation of judging others " Those comments caused a good number of them to pause and look at Mac with their pencils poised over their forms, but neither Mac nor Earl noticed any negative expressions or looks of fear.

It took close to half an hour before all had finished and handed Earl or Mac the forms, and were having coffee and sugary treats as the last few wrote, erased and wrote more. With all of the forms turned in, Mac said, "Okay, so it will all be in the hands of the university computers now. Just remember, that just because she is selected, it doesn't mean that he will be and it's important that you remember details like that. We don't want to give you any reason to say later that we hid things from you. We want you to have an exciting and rewarding and life altering time on the island because that too is measured and factored into the research." Mac could spin lies as fast and convincingly as could Earl.

Earl walked to the front near Harold junior and asked, "Any questions so far?"

Hands popped up so he selected one and she asked, "How long from now might we know if we've been selected."

"A perfect question and thank you. Mac and I will spend the rest of the day entering the data and we should have the results by late tomorrow afternoon. Then we will...okay we'll notify all of you as soon as we get the data back. Those of you that are accepted or invited back for an interview we can...how about a picnic tomorrow after work? We'll have some food brought in and we can enjoy each other's company as well as learn who has been selected."

"We can have it here," Harold offered, and Earl quickly said, "That would be perfect Harold and thank you for that. Anybody here not like things like ribs, pulled pork and slaw, or maybe barbequed chicken?" Nobody objected and a few even laughed. "Okay, we're off to do our work then and we'll see all of you here tomorrow evening, say about six, and those of you that aren't accepted you'll be getting something very nice just for participating."

As soon as they were in their car, Earl said, "Damn, I think we hit a mother lode with that group. We'll have to see to it that Harold and Jacob are on our list of guests."

When they got back to the Drury Inn, Didi helped them collate the forms and then they studied each one from top line to bottom. "Here's a good one," Didi said. "He loves to touch himself. That's how he phrased it too."

"What else about him?" Earl asked.

"Let's see, he's a voyeur though he doesn't break the law by skulking around women and...oops, this might be a problem. He's curious about other men."

"Really? But he doesn't admit to having relations with other men?"

"He denies it actually."

"I'll have to think about that one. What's his first name?"

"Harold." Mac and Earl quickly looked at each other and smiled before Earl said, "He goes on the accepted list. You know if we were to find enough comments like that we could have a series of granting secret wishes or confront secret fears. This could be complicated, but at the same time we could end up with some new and very interesting situations."

"I don't believe this one, but I'll read it to you. It's from Dawn, number seven whoever she is. She claims that she is a thirty one year old virgin."

"I question that one too. Okay put her on the list to be interviewed. If she seems legitimate we'll accept her, but she'll have to be watched closely for awhile."

Didi smiled and said, "But then you could see that she would be put into some interesting situations."

Earl smiled and said, "It does present possibilities."

Mac said, "Oh I've found one that just have to be accepted. He says he has a ten inch penis, but nobody knows that."

"Not another virgin. Was this church they came from totally anti everything? No mention of girlfriend past or present?"

"None."

"We'll have to interview him, what's his name?"

"Calvin."

"Calvin?"

"Yep, number two Calvin."

Didi kissed Earls cheek as she got up and said, "You may have competition lover."

He smiled and said, "I don't have the only ten inch, rather ten inch plus cock and somewhere out there are bigger ones, so I'm still okay with what I have."

"That's good honey cause if you were any longer I couldn't handle you," and she went to the restroom and then came back naked. Both men smiled at her and she said, "I was getting warm."

Mac continued his smile and said, "Yeah over the virgin with the ten inch dick."

"Honey, I don't care if you can't reach my navel from between my legs, your seven inches works just fine as far as I'm concerned."

Earl had questionnaires in three places. "Three in this pile and they aren't against public nudity. They declined to say anything about public sex though. These two are pretty much against everything unless married and then only in a darkened room. They won't be joining our adventure. I have one woman who has admitted to being with another woman recently. She doesn't say anything about before that however. I'm beginning to think most of them will have to be interviewed before we decide."

"Earl," Mac said, "I can interview the simpler ones. Like the virgin. It won't take a lot to find out what the truth is about that whole thing. You could focus on some of the more complex ones that way."

"That will work."

Chapter Twenty Six

With the last of the questionnaires sorted, Earl said, "Mac, I had a conversation with somebody I've known for awhile, and what came out of that was something that is very tempting to go with. And because this will be our last group for the island for a long time, I'm even thinking about not even informing Melvin until later. This acquaintance doesn't just know about what he told me, he's part of it, but I can't decide what to do. If it does work out I'd put them in Tropic Treat and keep them isolated from the other group. I think when we go to the airport, you two can fly back without me, and when I'm done there I'll fly down commercial and tell you and Melvin all about it then."

"Earl, that's sticking your neck way out."

"I know, but I think I can present it so he'll approve."

"He may approve of what you do, but he may kill you for how you're doing it."

"I'll think about all of that as I drive up to Indy tomorrow."

Mac didn't join Didi and Earl in the bedroom later, because he had a lot on his mind. Was Earl committing occupational suicide? If so, what impact would that have on their last island project, and for that matter on him and Didi? Could this end up being an opportunity of a lifetime for him was another good question to spend time thinking about. Earl was good at his job without a doubt, but he was just as vulnerable as anybody else if he overstepped his bounds. It wouldn't even be about the money so much actually. Melvin was tolerant and smart, but he didn't become wealthy by letting other people step on him or not respect him. Even his foes in the business world respected him even if they didn't like him.

Earl and Mac weren't there to watch the caterers set everything up on Harold's picnic tables, nor were they there for dinner. It was their plan to get there toward the end of the meal, and then enjoy some wine and talk with the dozen others that had been selected, supposedly by a computer somewhere.

When they got to Harold's and the picnic, all eyes followed the three of them as they went to the end table and helped themselves to glasses of wine. The men studied petite Didi and the women were doing much the same but more out of simple curiosity rather that hormone driven reasons. The chosen twelve people gravitated toward them so Earl waited a minute and then said loudly, "Good evening to all of you lucky few. We'll just sample this wonderful wine and then we'll get started with the interviews. How was the food and drink?" and of course everybody applauded.

The tension was building and they were going to use that to their benefit. By the time their game was over, ten of the twelve were going to feel like the most fortunate people in the world, having come so very close to losing a free two week tropical vacation.

Mac moved one of the picnic tables a little and then Didi sat on the side facing toward the group. She opened a laptop computer that had nothing to do with the proceedings and then put the folder next to her. Mac sat to her right and then Earl joined them sitting to Didi's left. When they interviewed one of them, the one being interviewed would have his or her back to the others with the hope being they would relax and feel more private. "Alexis," Earl called and she went to them with her cheeks blushing and as she sat down she said, "I'm so nervous."

Earl smiled at her and reached across to her hand and held it in his. "No reason at all to be nervous Alexis. All you and I are going do is talk and I'll make some notes and ask a few personal questions. Remember, I don't know your last name or where you live and what you and I say to each other will not go beyond this table. What I write down will be notes relating to different factors but not about what you tell me. That may be confusing to you but what that means is what you and I talk about starts here and stops here okay?"

"Yes, okay and that helps."

"Now remember, I'm not here to judge you. You're married right?"

"Yes, to Luke."

"Oh okay, so he's here too."

"That's right, and I feel so lucky about that."

"I'm sure, but remember, both of you might not be going, and you might well not end up in the same cottage if both of you are selected."

"I know, but just knowing he'd be on the island would help me a lot."

"I'm sure. Okay, now we're going to get into some very intimate things, are you ready for that?"

"I hope so."

"Let's start out easy. Have you ever gone topless? I mean other than in your own home?"

"Yes, I've gone swimming naked a couple of times."

"With others?"

"Well other girls at first, but the guys invaded us."

"How did you handle that?"

"I screamed and tried to hide in the water, but I couldn't stay there forever."