The Tutors - Session One

The Tutors -- Session One

Session One -- The First Wednesday:

"Okay, now that you've shed your hats and coats, on behalf of me and my brother, I'd like to welcome you to our mother's home and thank you for coming today. As we said after last week's chatroom conversation in our DMs to you, this first session will be devoted to preliminary things like filling out the questionnaire, going through a rough outline of the next-in-line session, and basically trying to answer all your questions as best we can."

"So, your name's Phoebe, right?"

"Yes. And it's not an alias. Chet is my brother's real name, as well. He's getting the forms and some pencils for the six of you. Ah, and here he is!"

"And here I am... As you heard my sister say, this afternoon's focus is mainly on you filling out the questionnaire..."

"What do you want to know?"

"Your name's Paul, correct?"

"That's right."

"Well, Paul, the questionnaire is designed to gauge how well you and your sister get along. The program the two of you signed up for doesn't work well..."

"Or, at all, really," Phoebe added.

"Right! Or at all... if you and your sister harbor unresolved animosity toward one another."

"Paul and I are really good friends. My name's Anna and I'm one year older... we share the same birthday."

"I remember you from the chatroom, Anna. Cool!" Chet voiced. "We don't see that very often, do we, Phoebe?"

"Only one other time before today. So, let me add that this questionnaire works best if the person filling it out can be as accurate as they possibly can be..."

"You mean, as honest as they can be."

"Not really. I'm sorry... I don't remember your name," Phoebe probed.

"David."

"I can understand, David, why you'd say that. But, Chet and I have learned -- from the last four years of teaching this course and from our own experience -- that truth is a poor metric when it comes to gauging one's relationship with your sibling..."

"You can say that, again!" David's sister intoned.

Laughter filled the large, well-appointed basement as Chet and Phoebe motioned for everyone to grab a place to sit. David looked at his sister and shook his head in resigned defeat.

"It is kind of ironic," Phoebe continued after the laughter faded, "but truth requires facts and there are few such thing as factual feelings which one sibling has about another."

"On the other hand," Chet added, "Phoebe and I, together, can establish facts about our relationship whenever we talk and agree on some particular aspect, but you six will be filling out this questionnaire alone, so it's important for you to think about accuracy more-so than truthfulness."

"So, the truth of my relationship with my brother Dave doesn't matter?"

"Am I right that your name is Beth?" Phoebe asked.

"Close... I prefer Bethany."

"Well, Bethany," Phoebe, continued, "you must be very astute, because truth is, in fact, the ultimate goal of what each of you has agreed to achieve along with your sibling."

"What truth is that?"

"Monica, am I right?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes, Monica, or I answer to Moni, too."

"Great, Moni!" Chet said, picking up the conversational thread, "As I'm sure you and your brother Henry remember, last week's chatroom discussion was mostly about how it's so difficult for twenty-something people like us to establish and maintain healthy relationships across all domains of our lives."

"What my brother means," Phoebe added, "is: across our emotional, physical, intellectual, and even our spiritual dimensions as human beings."

"Therefore," Chet concluded, "getting to the truth of the connection to and with your sibling is the goal of this course; because doing so will help you recognize that same truth later on in the person with whom you want to form that primary, long-term, stable relationship. And as Phoebe said last week, trust and unconditional love are the two pathways to get you to this goal. Okay, thanks for your questions. There will be time later for more. Right now, Phoebe and I would like you to fill out the questionnaire -- Anna," Chet said, "would you please hand these out?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to..."

"Thank you, Anna," Phoebe replied. "Okay, there's plenty of room and good lighting down here, so spread out and get comfortable. Remember to write your initials at the top!"

"You may find some of the questions weird or even funny," Chet intoned. "It's okay to laugh or whatever, but we don't want you to ask for help from your sibling or from Phoebe and myself."

The six participants began to do as instructed, except for Anna who looked around to see that the others had spread out away from her, so she shrugged and stayed put. Chet continued...

"There are fifty questions each with five possible responses. As we said earlier, try to be as accurate as possible. There's no such thing as a wrong or right answer; there's only the one response within each question which is most accurate for you in this moment."

"After everyone has finished," Phoebe added, "I will score them -- it will take me a few minutes. So, while I'm doing that, there are refreshments over near the bathroom suite. It's that individual score Chet and I are looking for, so after I've determined each score, we'll give the questionnaires back to you."

"What are we to do with them?" Paul asked.

"Anything you like. Phoebe and I framed ours and hung them on the wall over there." Chet replied, pointing to his left.

In short order, six sets of eyes began to peruse six documents like some super-mini version of a SAT test site. From Chet and Phoebe's experience, it usually took somewhere between one and two minutes for the snickering to begin. This cohort of students was no exception...

"What the actual fuck!" Paul spat out to no one in particular as he raised his eyes to look at his tutors. The look on his face seemed to Chet to be one part humor and two parts horror. After it became clear to Paul his hosts were not interested in taking his bait, he resumed his reading over and marking of the questionnaire.

Soon, there were frequent light chuckles and two or three really good belly laughs. Phoebe noted how the tongue-in-cheek structure of the questions always had the effect of erasing their students' nervousness and thereby propelling them to the finish line...

"I'm done," intoned Anna, and then added almost under her breath. "And all this time, I thought I had a weird sense of humor... You two take the cake!"

Phoebe came to her and lifted the form and pencil from the young woman's hand and immediately went to an office desk located against the south wall of the basement. Once there, she began to score Anna's document. Soon, there were five other hands offering up the rest of the questionnaires. Chet always stepped in at this point to gather them for his sister. Coming to Phoebe's side, he deposited them next to her and placed the now-used pencils into an old, over-sized coffee mug...

"That went faster than usual, sis. It will be interesting to see if it's reflected in the test scores."

Phoebe nodded her head slightly but gave no verbal response. Chet looked up to see that Anna -- the first student to finish -- was already reaching for a slice of their mother's coffee cake to go along with the lemonade she had moments before poured for herself. It didn't take long for the rest of them to also rise and go grab something to snack on. Chet watched as the three pairs of siblings resumed sitting next to one another. While they ate and drank, quiet conversations were in play accompanied by the standard head-shaking and muted laughter as the brother-sister pairs traded their recent test-taking experiences.

After another five minutes had passed, the next typical event took place: students beginning to head to the bathroom suite. The first to reach it -- Bethany -- turned to look at her brother and said...

"Dave, come look at this! You won't believe what's in here."

David shot up from his seat and quickly went to see what the fuss was about. When he peered inside, what he saw was a large bathroom with five shower zones each separated by a tiled wall depicting artwork of people making love in as many different ways as the young man thought it possible. Ten feet away on the other side of the suite were five sets of bidets and toilets not separated by anything. One long counter embedded with five sinks completed the room. Soon, the other students joined them and, one by one, began entering the suite. Echoed whistles and comments emanated from the space as Chet and Phoebe ambled over and themselves peeked in...

"Pretty chill, huh?" Phoebe asked them. "Chet and I did all the renovations ourselves. This used to be a musty storage room with a dirt floor."

"Though the quality of the installation seems top-notch, I believe we're all jacked about the artwork and layout -- pretty risqué and not much privacy," spoke Anna.

"More like a locker room than a bathroom," added Henry.

"It's actually patterned after a communal en-suite located in Paris," Chet informed the group. "That one in France doesn't have the artwork this one does because it's gender-specific. This en-suite is for mixed genders. Phoebe did all the paintings of the love-making; it's based on actual events from some of our earliest tutoring sessions."

"Hold on a minute, here," David said in a raised voice. "Are you telling us this course teaches brothers and sisters how to fuck each other?"

"Not fucking, David," Phoebe responded as she placed her right hand on the young man's shoulder. "Chet and I don't teach sex education here. We assume you're all well-versed with what goes where and why. Everyone, please come on back into the big room -- as we call it -- and Chet and I will explain what it is we do here."

Five of the six students did as Phoebe asked, but Bethany stayed behind to finish what she began to do. After a short wait, the sound of a toilet flushing and water running in a sink was heard. Then, she came back from the en-suite and sat down next to her brother... immediately grasping onto his hand with hers...

"Okay, let me be very clear about something:" Chet began, "Phoebe and I do not facilitate or encourage sibling couples to come here just to get their rocks off. One of the big reasons for the questionnaire is to weed out those people who want to come here to do that very thing... for whatever twisted reasons they might have."

"Here's the problem our generation faces in a nutshell," Phoebe continued. "How do we form and maintain healthy inter-personal relationships in an era when almost all relationships of any kind have become completely transactional?"

"What do you means by transactional?" Bethany asked.

"Fantastic question!" Chet intoned. "Transactional as in a business transaction: you do for me and I will do for you in return. The simplest example is buying bananas from the grocery store: a bunch of bananas costs you, what... thirty-eight cents a pound or so? If I want the bananas, I have to give the checkout clerk some money."

"In our chatroom conversations over the last two months," Phoebe continued, "you participated because we asked and you agreed to do so with your sibling at your side. Once we established that we were speaking with ten sibling pairs, we got the conversation rolling on the general topic of 'The problem with modern relationships'. Every one of you told us about the failed relationships you've been through, and Chet even identified transactionalism as being at the root of the problem."

"I remember that," Anna chimed.

"So do I," Paul agreed.

"Okay," David continued, "I think we all remember that. But why is it necessary for us to repair the brokenness of our relationship skills with the help of our sibling? I mean... isn't that a bit extreme?"

"It absolutely is, David," Chet confirmed. "It's very extreme. But, so too is the problem we all face. Seven years ago, Phoebe and I went through what all of you are now going through: failed relationship after failed relationship."

"When Chet was eighteen, he got his heart ripped out of his chest -- figuratively, of course -- three times in six months by girls his age who were all about transactional relationships. They wanted Chet to provide the bling before they would agree to provide any intimacy. Chet would do it only to have the girl ratchet up her demands."

"I tried to love them, but I got nothing but trouble in return. Finally, I went to my big sister Phoebe to ask her what the hell was going on."

"When Chet began to talk about his experiences, I was shocked to discover I was going through the same thing, but in reverse. The guy I was dating at the time kept demanding things of me that I just wasn't ready to commit to. I wasn't ready because I got the sense I couldn't trust him with my love."

"That's when Phoebe and I put our heads together to learn all we could about the psychology of relationships. What we discovered was there needed to be a solid foundation of unconditional love and trust between two people in order for a primary relationship to thrive over time."

"But, as Chet soon found out when he tried to apply what we learned to his next girlfriend, both individuals in that relationship have to be fully invested in the unconditional love and trust philosophy for that relationship to succeed."

"That's when Phoebe and I decided to try out on each other what we hoped would be the right sequence of techniques designed to guide any couple to that ultimate goal of a healthy..."

"...and true, remember..." Phoebe added.

"Absolutely. ...true relationship. The result of our trial and error efforts is the curriculum we hope to guide you through... with your sibling as your lab partner."

"What do you mean by lab partner?" Monica asked.

"Well," Phoebe replied, "I'm assuming everyone here has been in a laboratory course in high school or college: chemistry, biology, or some such. Am I right?"

Six heads all nodded in the affirmative, so Chet took over...

"If you remember, in that lab setting, your instructor would often demonstrate a technique and then have you and your partner replicate it to his or her satisfaction."

"Yes, like dissecting a frog... Phew! I remember that all too well," said Monica. "So, are you and your sister going to demonstrate something to us that we are then expected to copy with our sibling?"

"Moni," Phoebe replied, "you got it exactly right: over the four weeks of this course, Chet and I will demonstrate techniques which will build on the foundation of unconditional love and trust you already have with your brother... in fact, which all of you already have with your respective sibling."

"How do you know," Bethany asked, "that I trust and unconditionally love my brother?"

"From the questionnaire you filled out," Phoebe replied. "That's why we had you take it: to make sure your responses reflected unconditional love and trust in and with your brother -- and it very much did, Bethany."

"Wait a minute, Phoebe," Henry interjected, putting all the pieces together for the group, "does this mean you and Chet will be demonstrating -- live and in person -- how to make love in ways which build trust and unconditional love?"

"Definitely live and in person, Henry." Chet deadpanned. "Doing so is Phoebe's and my expression of our trust and unconditional love for you as your tutors. It's our way of helping folk like us who yearn for a real and lasting primary relationship."

"This afternoon?" Monica asked with genuine alarm.

"Uh, no," Chet replied to her. "That will happen beginning with the next session on Saturday. Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Mondays from 3:00 to 5:00 pm for the next four weeks: that's what you agreed to last week in the chatroom. That is, depending on what you and your potential lab partner decide today."

"Just because," Phoebe added, "you qualify for this course based on your individual test results, that doesn't automatically move you forward into the actual curriculum. You and your sibling slash lab partner have to want to proceed together knowing it will involve the two of you potentially being intimate with one another."

"Umm," Monica asked in a quiet, almost transparent voice, "Isn't incest illegal?"

"That is another great question," Phoebe replied. "And the answer is: what the authorities prosecute as incest almost always involves an imbalance of power and non-consent: for example, a father engaging in sex with his pre-teen daughter. In this state, sexual activity is legal between any two consenting adults -- like yourselves. What's prohibited is for siblings to legally marry each other; which makes no sense at all because that law was written to prevent close family members -- like sisters and brothers -- from making babies together."

"Why is that strange?" Henry asked.

"Because siblings still do it anyway, just not as a legally married couple," Chet revealed.

"What about the other couples here?" Paul ventured. "We're not... you know... going..."

"God, no, Paul!" Phoebe replied. "As I said earlier, this isn't a sex-thing. It's a relationship building course. It just so happens the concepts are learned best along side a person with whom you have a pre-existing foundation of trust and unconditional love. Everyone here will confine their potential intimacy -- whether giving or receiving -- to their sibling only. Remember, we are expecting you to be a lab partner, not one half of a mated pair. Whatever the exercise, you will initially practice it here and then at least one more time at a setting of your own choosing before the next session."

"Do you mean back where we live?" Anna asked. "That could be difficult seeing Paul and I are home from college for the summer, and our younger brother and sisters are usually around. I'm assuming you don't want us doing this in front of our family members."

"Does that mean, sis," asked a startled Paul, "that you're okay with the idea of being intimate with me?"

"I haven't made any final decision, bro," she replied sheepishly, "but... yes."

"Holy... Wow, Anna! I never thought..."

"Paul, I need to know what they know," Anna said pointing to Chet and Phoebe, "and this seems to me to be the only way that's going to happen. We were in the chatroom with them practically every day for two months. And now that I see them face-to-face, I know this isn't bullshit! They have a handle on something important, and I get what they are saying: we can't learn this stuff by ourselves, and we certainly can't ask some stranger or lousy ex-whatever to help us."

"Umm," an overwhelmed Phoebe began, "well put, Anna. You hit the nail on the head there."

"She didn't just hit the nail, sis, she obliterated that sucker!"

"Damn right I did. Paul, come with me over to that far corner," she said pointing to the furthest away place from where they were. "We have some things to discuss."

Chet watched as the duo -- with Anna holding onto and dragging her brother by the arm -- went to one of the large futon beds and sat down. Without another word spoken, the other two pairs of siblings did the same but in different directions. Chet looked at his sister, smiled, and shook his head in wonderment.

"That's the first time that's ever happened, Phoebe -- unless I somehow blacked out and don't remember."

"No, my love, this is certainly one group for the ages."

"So... their individual scores?"

"Their scores are about the same as scores for those students we accept into the program. What's different is that these sibs are really in tune with each other. It's almost freaky how similar their responses were, which means their scores are very close as well."

"Wow! If this thing happens, it may be our best class of students yet."

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The time on the wall above the refreshment table said 4:47, which left little more than ten minutes remaining in this preliminary session. As each pair of siblings finished their private talk, they came back over to Chet and Phoebe but remained standing. Finally, Bethany and David came over...