The Country Club

Author's notes:

1. This is a work of fiction. The activities and practices described in this story are not necessarily either condoned or recommended. If you choose to do anything described in real life with real people you do so at your own risk.

2. All characters are fictional and any likeness to any living person is purely coincidental. The story is purely imaginary and, to the author's knowledge, bears no relationship to any factual occurrence.

3. This series follows on from the Holiday Loving series and Chapter 1-7 of The Country Club. While it is stand alone, it will make more sense to read those stories first. This is the last chapter in this series.

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Prelude:

This chapter moves ten years into the future after Chapter 7. In that time many amazing things have happened to the world and to the Country Club. It has developed into a community in its own right, a refuge for people who think differently, behave differently and are different; a refuge from bureaucracy and the often-annoying mores of society, as it is commonly known. It is also a refuge for those who find the main world toxic and intolerable, often due to agricultural and other chemicals which are added to manufactured foods for no apparently beneficial reason. It has developed into a self-contained, open-minded commune which is taking pro-active steps to ensure the continuation of human rights, dignity, education, joie de vivre and of humanity itself.

Many of the political, ecological, environmental, medical, health, food, educational and behavioral issues currently affecting humanity are discussed as they affect a community which is striving to be self-sufficient in a remote locality. It is totally fiction, possibly could be classified as science fiction due to the extrapolation of current trends into a possible future, and makes absolutely no claims to be a realistic representation of what the future holds. It is, however, a society which I, as author, would design myself, if that were possible, and in which I would enjoy living.

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Carla and Trent arrived a few minutes early for their appointment to be shown around the community. I hurriedly drank the last gulp of coffee then went through to the reception area and greeted them.

"Good morning, Carla, Trent, great to meet you."

As I embraced each of them briefly, I mentally summed them up as a handsome and intelligent-looking couple, married judging by the rings on their fingers, probably mid- to late-twenties, apparently healthy and fit. I escorted them through the short passage to the rear door, where we exited into the sunny, late spring day. As we walked down the path towards the community center, I began briefing them on the Utopia Community.

"So, let's start at the beginning. Utopia is the name given to an ideal country by Sir Thomas More in 1516 in his book of the same name. We chose the name because this community is as close to ideal as we can imagine. By giving it that name, we are reminding people of our aim, hopefully enabling this society to achieve this ideal status. This is not to say it is always sweetness and light; far from it. We have some very interesting discussions of controversial topics, but we do this in a respectful and thoughtful manner."

"Yes, you mention a few of the philosophies and ideals on your website. We both found that interesting and wondered how closely you adhered to your ideals."

"Well, "I replied, "We try our best. Generations of indoctrination in outside society, family and business life is very difficult to lose in a few months or even years. Hopefully our children, who are being raised in this environment, will be the first generation to fully apply the new morality and mores of this community. Speaking of which, here we are at the early childhood center."

I opened the rear door and ushered them through the child-proof door system and into a large room with a wide variety of toys and a few young children. Through the open sliding doors, we could see another group of children playing, being read to and chatting with supervisors and generally appearing to be enjoying themselves. I escorted Trent and Carla towards a quiet corner and began explaining to them the importance of the educational system we had instituted in Utopia.

"We've adopted the views of Rudolf Steiner, who instituted what are now called Waldorf Schools. The problem that people had in the outside society was the increasing pressure placed upon them to trust their precious children to an educational system that clearly was not working. For many of them, the last straw was the requirement by schools for all children attending to undergo a mandatory series comprising an incredible number of vaccines which may or may not have caused serious illnesses in children. I'm neither pro- nor anti-vaccine, but I am pro-choice and can see that many parents were in the impossible situation of being required to send their children to a school when that school would not accept them because they had not been vaccinated, yet they were unwilling to risk their children's lives by having them vaccinated. Many of the parents who found us had lost a child immediately following vaccination, and for them to subject their next child to that same risk was unthinkable, especially now that some research indicates that possible genetic characteristics may cause complications after vaccination. So, if schools won't take unvaccinated children, the solution is to start your own school, which is what we did. Several of the adults living here are qualified teachers and our children have been achieving at well above the national standards due to the friendly, family-based teaching and learning environment. Learning is simply another part of life, as is everything here. Senior students also takes care of younger children, providing them with valuable experience when they move on to raising children of their own."

I was about to lead them away when a small cannon ball of arms and legs came racing across the room, screamed out "Mommy" at the top of her lungs and threw herself against my legs, wrapping her arms around me tightly while looking up at Carla and Trent from around the side of my knees. After recovering my balance, I chuckled and introduced our daughter Julie to the recovering visitors.

"Julie's just turned three and really loves school. She's doing so well too, aren't you sweetie," I said as I ruffled her hair with my hand.

Carla crouched down and spoke softly to Julie for a few minutes as Julie watched her with large, serious eyes, answering in quite a mature manner, but from a three-year-old's perspective. I always found it cute to watch her interact with others; she'd never learnt to be shy or afraid of others so was very open with everyone. After a few minutes I told her she needed to go back to her teacher, so she said a very serious "Goodbye, Mommy" and walked back to her group, turning and waving several times.

"She's just gorgeous," said Carla, "What a wonderful child.

"Yes, she is, I agree. She's brought so much joy to Neil and I that we've decided to have another one, due in just over five months' time. I do hope this one's a boy."

"You could check by ultrasound, couldn't you?"

"Yes, but we don't use ultrasound unless it's absolutely necessary. Research indicates that the frequencies cause distress in the baby, so we feel it's best to avoid that if possible."

I led them out the doors and through a gap in a hedge to a shallow pool, where several children were being taught to swim by a young woman. Trent stopped in his tracks.

"Oops, I don't think I should be here," he said turning around, his face turning bright red. I noticed that Carla also seemed hesitant. I could see the problem immediately.

"Trent and Carla, there is nothing inherently wrong with the human body. The whole of Utopia is clothing-optional. Children are brought up with a respect for each other's body and are taught how their own body operates in an age-appropriate manner, and you can see the children in the pool are all naked and nobody is paying any attention to this. It's still a little cool this morning, but later we'll visit the adult pool and you'll be able to see what I mean. So, I invite you to become used to it because if you do choose to live here, after the first few days nakedness will become a perfectly normal way of life. It is so freeing, not having to present yourself in the way you customarily have but being able to just be who you are and see everyone else in the same way."

"So, you mean that I could simply strip off right now and nobody would pay any attention?" asked Trent.

"Absolutely. Try it if you wish."

Trent and Carla looked at each other. "Later, maybe," said Carla to Trent's unspoken question.

"Come over and meet Terri," I said, bringing them back to their tour.

Once Terri saw us approaching, she waded to the edge and stepped out of the pool. She smiled as Trent, in particular, pretended to look away, while at the same time wanting to look at her beautiful naked body, gently tanned all over. Terri was very used to this reaction from newbies.

"Terri, this is Carla and Trent," I introduced them, "Carla and Trent are looking at joining our community."

"Hi, Carla. Hi Trent. Welcome to Utopia. I've been here for a couple of years now and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It's a beautiful place and I'll look forward to welcoming you if you choose to move here."

I noticed that she had given Trent a quick once over and also noticed that his shorts were showing a definite tenting in the crotch, the usual response when newbie males first met Terri straight from the pool. The situation wasn't improved for Trent when she gave each of them a quick, wet, naked hug. I grinned inwardly.

"Terri came here as a single with a baby daughter. She'd just graduated from her early childhood teaching course, was nearly full-term pregnant from a long-departed boyfriend, had nowhere to live and no job. While we like to receive applications from committed couples, we are also willing to give people a second chance at life, so Terri was accepted provisionally and since then has given birth to a gorgeous baby girl, who's inside playing, and has proved to be an excellent teacher and supervisor in the pre-school."

Terri had been partly listening, partly keeping an eye on her young charges. She explained that these were pre-schoolers who were old enough to learn to swim so that when they went to elementary school at age seven, they would be able to fully participate in the program.

"Swimming is an excellent exercise as well as a pleasant recreation so we believe it is essential, for the health and safety of the children, that they learn to swim competently," explained Terri, "And they're such fun to teach too."

"Thanks, Terri," I said, "We'll head over to the senior area now that Trent has overcome some of his shyness."

"Before you go," said Terri with a grin, "Just thought I'd share the news; I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations," I replied, hugging her, "Well done. You'll be delivering shortly after me. Do you know who the father is?"

"No. I think it happened when I attended the gathering at the club a few weeks ago. I was on duty during the day and slept with several of the guys there overnight." She glanced quickly at Trent and Carla, wondering what sort of impression they would be receiving of Utopia, where promiscuity seemed to be the order of the day, or night. "It was intentional and I'd given up my contraceptives a few weeks before, so it seems I timed it just right."

"Well, that's wonderful, sweetie. It's also great that it's probably a visitor rather than one of our male residents too. Increases the gene pool, which is very important with the current low fertility rate in this country. Stay well and have your regular progress checks. I'll be interested to see the summary reports come across my desk. We'd better continue with the tour."

Terri laughed, tossing her long blonde hair as she grinned provocatively towards Trent.

"Be seeing you, I hope," she said as she turned back to her charges.

Once we were out of earshot and walking down the pathway, Carla asked the question that I knew she and Trent must have wanted to ask earlier.

"Do you really encourage promiscuity here?"

"Oh yes, of course. One of the main problems this and many other countries are facing is low fertility among both men and women, but particularly among men. It's running at about 46% fertility for men and only about 60% for women. This means that if we're not very careful we'll become extinct as a species in a few centuries. For the past few decades we've been running below replacement level for fertility; it's only been immigration that has maintained a stable population. At Utopia, we're fortunate to have around 60% fertile males and 75% fertile females, which allows for a good chance of conception. However, there are only around 50% of couples where both partners are fertile. This means that very often a member of a couple will need to mate with a member of another couple to become pregnant or cause pregnancy. This is one condition you will have to agree to before you are accepted as residents of Utopia. Judging from the way Terri was eyeing you up, Trent, that shouldn't be too much of a problem, except, of course, if you, Carla, objected to such a pairing of convenience. Usually a fertile male and female will arrange to share their bed for a few weeks and very often their partners will also share the other bed, so effectively it is simply partner swapping for a while. We also have a surrogacy program operating, but of course we dispense with the straws of sperm method of impregnation in favour of the direct injection method."

I watched their faces to ensure they got my meaning. From their blushes they seemed to.

"Then there are the women whose eggs are infertile, so a direct injection of viable sperm is useless. For them we can use in vitro fertilization, fertilizing a viable donor egg with the partner's or a donor's sperm, then implanting that into the woman's uterus. We have around 75% success rate with that, which is above average."

"Is this all done here or do they need to go to an outside clinic?" asked Trent.

"Oh, here, of course. We have one of the top fertility clinics in the country set up by an excellent specialist obgyn and fertility research scientist. One thing we were very aware of when establishing Utopia was the need for sympathetic medical staff, so in addition to our fertility expert, we have a functional medicine practitioner as well as several other medically trained alternative and conventional staff supported by eight excellent nurses. Frequently we have people arrive in very poor condition and usually after a few months of treatment they are able to recover their health completely, or, at worst, recover partially and enough to enjoy life once more. Here's the main education center."

For the next quarter hour, I explained to Trent and Carla how the children were taught, the focus of the learning-by-doing program of self-directed learning beginning from age seven.

"So right from the start the children are taught how to learn and research," commented Carla, fascinated by the quiet atmosphere of busy learning in the large, airy classroom. Several teachers, male and female, were circulating among the students, assisting where necessary. It could have been a normal classroom in a very well-run and progressive school anywhere, except that, true to the clothing optional rule, some teachers and students were naked, others scantily dressed. This seemed to be accepted as perfectly normal by everyone in the room, except Carla and Trent, who, if they had been asked, would have had to agree that they were slowly accepting this state of affairs.

"Yes, and how to use computers constructively. We have excellent wi-fi and internet here, so just because we're remote from the world physically, it doesn't mean we're remote electronically. However, every computer connection is wired. There is no wireless anywhere as it has been conclusively proven that the frequencies of 4G and, particularly, 5G networks disrupt your body signals and cause or at least assist disease creation. So, we have the advantages of modern technology without the disadvantages. Incidentally, if you have cell phones you'll find they don't work here. We're also completely self-sufficient in electricity, using solar power generators and large battery storage."

We walked through the classroom with a minimum of disturbance to the learning environment, then out the end door.

"It's almost lunchtime, but before we eat, come and see where your food is grown," I said, leading them through a gap in the hedge, from where seemingly endless fields, containing a wide variety of plants, could be viewed. Dotted throughout the area, people were working, some planting, some tending the crops, some harvesting. All were working naked in the sunshine, their only clothing being a wide-brimmed hat.

"Don't they get sunburnt?" asked Trent.

"To begin with they wear light clothing for much of the day, only exposing their skin gradually. No sunscreen is used as much of that contains harmful chemicals and, besides, it blocks the sun and prevents vitamin D synthesis in the skin. For some reason, we have made the sun our enemy in normal life, so we suffer from the effects of toxic sunscreen and vitamin D deficiency. We evolved under the sun, so if you allow your skin to acclimatize, it does not become either sunburnt or diseased and, due to the increase in vitamin D, you become healthy.

"All the plants are grown organically, using both permaculture and biodynamic methods. This part of the land was donated by the neighbor after his wife died. He donated us the land and we provided him a chalet and lifetime free living in the community. He had owned the ranch for his whole life, inheriting it from his parents, and had never used fertilizers or pesticides on it, so it was pristine, allowing us to obtain the highest level of organic certification. Water comes from a well on the property, pumped during the day to storage tanks by solar electric pumps, from where it is gravity fed during the night, so it doesn't drain our batteries unnecessarily. Water in the pools is changed daily also, meaning that there are no harmful chemicals needed in the water. The water from the pools is used to water the fields. Before the pools are refilled, the water flows through a mineral rock bed which adds trace amounts of essential minerals like magnesium, calcium, iodine and others, which can be absorbed in tiny amounts through the skin while swimming and provides plant nutrients afterwards.

"Beyond the fields you can see, there is the remainder of the thousand-acre ranch which is used for raising cattle mainly. Some people own horses which graze there and which they can ride for recreation." I chuckled and grinned. "Usually we wear clothes when we ride; it can be painful otherwise, as some have found out. Anyway, time for lunch."

I led Carla and Trent to the large dining room in which a buffet meal was available at one end. There were throngs of people, many naked, chatting together as they ate their meals. I saw Neil working in the kitchen and gestured for him to come out.

"Trent and Carla, this is my husband Neil," I introduced them after we'd embraced. "We've seen much of the community center so far and I think Carla and Trent are gradually becoming used to the idea of seeing people naked," I said with a chuckle.

We chatted for a while, then Neil excused himself and returned to the kitchen while we helped ourselves to lunch and sat outside in the shade eating and talking further about what we had seen that morning. It was obvious that Carla and Trent were impressed with the whole setup.