Chapter 7

ALICIA

Just over a week had been more than enough. Greg was deeply and hopelessly in love with Alicia. Brilliant, sensitive, caring, and courageous were among her attributes that everyone could see. Passionate and responsive, only Greg had discovered. But had he ever discovered them! Most of all, his love was returned fully and completely.

The Sunday evening Alicia called her parents, Greg hurt for her. It was the kind of call no one should have to make. He had worked with her for a long time on scripting out statements and responses. Julia had insisted on helping, as well. But it was Alicia who had to be on the phone.

As if she needed them, Alicia made even more friends by insisting that she wanted to make the call from Lindsey’s - what she considered her true home. She and Greg, still naked, sat as close as was physically possible on one of the love seats, while all of the residents and staff gave them space.

Seeing her literally shaking as she picked up the phone to dial, Greg put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Honey, before you call, can I ask you something important?” She nodded.

“Alicia Bergstrom, will you marry me?” At her gasp, he quickly added “I don’t have a ring, and we are not in any position to get married yet, but I want to know that we are going to be together forever?”

It was indeed a calculated move, but an instinctive one. He believed she would feel stronger when talking to her parents if she felt truly engaged. She might even be able to tell them that if it would make the conversation easier.

The phone call was delayed several minutes for her blubbering acceptance and some necessary composure recovery. Their fresh commitment did not make the call easy, but it did give her greater strength.

Unfortunately, the subject of support money was thrown at Alicia quite early. She had a scholarship, but they had helped with other necessary costs. Being able to tell them that her new job would relieve them of future contributions was very helpful. She ended up in tears, and Greg could tell there were tears at the other end, as well.

“Mom, Dad, I love you both. I have not abandoned my faith,” she said at the very end. “I know you will find that unbelievable, but it is true. I am in a place where I can help people every day. It was what I always dreamed of.” She had managed the entire call without mentioning her own nudity.

After hanging up, she collapsed into his arms. The only sounds for a few minutes was some sniffling from her at first. Turning to kiss him soundly, she asked “How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That I probably would never have gotten through that without the proposal.”

“I was frustrated because there was so little I could do to help you,” he explained. “It just hit me - we are a couple for sure. Maybe, if it was official, it would give you a little more confidence. No matter what happened with them, you would never be on your own.”

“Well, it was the perfect thing to do. Oh, I love you so much!” Those watching from a distance could only smile as she dove on him and both heads disappeared below the top of the couch.

As she seemed intent on cracking his ribs, she declared “This our true wedding night. I have fulfilled my virginity pledge and I want to start on my one and only man pledge.”

He did not even ask if she was sure. There was not a doubt from her tone. “Um, can I call and tell your mom we’re engaged?”

It was a little sad when Alicia hung up from Sandy. She was crying, and he was pretty sure why. That should have been a moment to share with her own mother. Greg was just glad his mother was the kind who could substitute.

FRANKLIN

To everyone’s surprise, Franklin Weeks arrived four days later. His accumulated vacation and sick days allowed him that flexibility upon resigning. His arrival presented both problems and opportunities for Alicia and Greg.

As would be expected before Julia would hire him, Franklin was obviously brilliant, but seemed very easy to talk with. Their first contact with him was indeed memorable.

They were huddled at what had become their work table at Lindsey’, naked as usual, and engrossed in a minor debate. Through the door from the nude section came a fifty-something couple, naked. The woman was statuesque, her regal bearing offset by an open, smiling face. Franklin was a solidly built man, but he had clearly taken care of himself. While Estelle, Franklin’s wife, seemed almost ebullient, Franklin was fighting to hide his discomfort.

As the older couple approached the younger, Alicia and Greg stood. Extending his hand, Greg offered “It’s a jolt at first, isn’t it? And it isn’t fair how easy it is for the women.”

It was Estelle who spoke up first. “Silly man! He has been dreading this ever since the offer came.” They all did the introductions, then Estelle informed them “Coming over here like this was my idea. I hope it doesn’t seem like grandstanding.”

“Not at all,” Alicia assured her. “We’re determined to get so we hardly notice if we’re dressed or not.”

“Maybe this is an imposition,” Greg said, “but we are into a deep issue, right now, and could really use expert help. Oh, Estelle, sorry, I didn’t mean to impose on your time.”

“Maybe you didn’t know,” Franklin revealed, “but we have both been hired. Estelle has many years as a licensed counsellor. Would you be willing to stay for a while, Dear.”

“Wouldn’t miss it, after the wonderful things I’ve heard about these two young folks. What are you struggling with?”

“Well, we wholeheartedly agree with the emphasis on not damaging families because of the wife’s exposure. However, when does the woman’s need trump the danger to the family?” Alicia posed a question.

“For example,” Greg picked up the thread, “What if the rest of the family is completely against it, but the wife desperately wants in and has the money? If we deny her because of the others, what damage are we doing to her? Are we telling her that she is only significant as a part of the family?”

The Weeks looked at each other, smiled, and nodded. Franklin explained “We have had extensive discussions with Julia and Caroline, and that subject came up often. Please, tell us your conclusions, or at least your thoughts.”

Greg spoke first. “We hate to sound too analytical, but we have talked about a scoring system. We think that would be a good way to share data about a woman with others here.

“We talked about scores for existing relationships between husband and wife and mother and children. Then, a risk score for each relationship. For the other family members, prospects for adapting and accepting nudity could be scored. These are just examples.”

Alicia added “We don’t think just number scores would be useful. We would prefer meaningful words or phrases. We do think that they should be standardized, though.”

“You realize, don’t you, that therapists very much try to individualize their analyses?” Franklin reminded them.

“If this was Transformations and true therapy was involved, I could see your point,” Greg countered. “Of course, a number of residents might indeed enter into therapy. We are just trying to find ways to best handle the residents and to fulfill our mandate to keep from damaging families or exposing the organization to trouble.”

“Hmmm. The idea of models and scripts does help to eliminate improvisation and keep treatment of residents uniform and fair,” Franklin mused. “How about if we test your approach on some live interviews with eager residents. Frank has approved a free half month for women who arrange for us to do in depth interviews with them and their entire family. A woman willing to do a normal applicant visit will also get half of her first month free. Some of the early applicants will get a free month.”

“Normal applicant visits? Oh!”

“Here is what I would like to do,” Franklin explained. “Caroline and I have agreed on this approach. We want to duplicate all interviews with two different teams. Caroline and I will head the teams. Greg, you will work with Caroline and Estelle on one team, while Alicia will work with Rhonda McMann and me on the other.”

ALLISON

Allison Graham could barely put the phone back in it’s charging receptacle after the call. A young man from Transformations had just called in regards to her application for admittance, along with the check she had sent.

After carefully explaining that Transformations only accepted clients sent by psychiatrists or psychologists, he had told her about a new division similar to Transformations. It was called Rejuve and it would operate much like Transformations, but women did not have to be referred.

The young man, whose name was Greg, had asked Allison “Are you aware that the women at Transformations are nude for their entire stay?”

“Y ... yes. Everyone knows that,” Allison replied.

“The same will be true of Rejuve”, Greg informed her. “Another difference from Transformations will be that some women will go out to work each day, then be brought right back to Rejuve. We are also setting up exceptionally good remote work stations for women who can arrange to work away from the office. You are still employed, aren’t you, Mrs. Graham?”

“Th ... that’s how I can afford to go,” Allison assured him. “Remote work areas? I wonder if I could set that up?”

“We will certainly work with you and your employer on any reasonable arrangement. Mrs. Graham, there is another change at Rejuve. We do not want to have to deal with the complete shock of first nudity. Women who want to be admitted must prove that they can tolerate being naked in mixed company.”

“Oh, my! H ... how would I prove that?”

“First of all, Rejuve is not yet open for operation, although we believe we will be in seven or eight weeks,” Greg explained. “Right now, we are working on the effect on family of a wife and/or mother living naked with male attendants for up to three months.”

“Does ... does he even have to know?”

“It cannot be kept a secret,” Greg insisted. “Just think through how he might react. Well, that is a subject for later investigation.

“To assist in developing our procedures and approaches, we are offering incentives of discounts from the first month’s tuition to women who assist us. There are two ways a woman can earn discounts of one-half of a month’s tuition during our investigation before opening.

“First, a preliminary investigation must show no reason why a woman should be rejected from admittance. Then, one way to earn the discounts is to arrange a set of interviews with the entire family.”

“But ... but ... I can’t talk about this with Chad! And the boys ... they just...”

“Of course, we take into account children too young.” Greg went on to explain how the series of interviews would be conducted.

“The other way is for you to go through our ‘nudity qualification’ visit.”

“Wh ... what is that?”

“You would come out to our office for a session of about three hours. You would go through at least two interviews. They would be almost the same questions with two different teams. There might be one or two additional interviews, as well.

“The qualification comes in because you will be met at the door by a very respectful young man. He will show you to a changing room, wait while you disrobe, then escort you, nude, to each of your interviews. In at least the two main interviews, you will be talking with three or four people, at least one a male.”

“Wh ... why would you make me do that?” Allison almost sobbed. “My body looks awful. I’m thirty-five pounds overweight. That’s why I want in.”

“And that is about how overweight you will be on your first day at Rejuve,” Greg pointed out. “Because of the frequency of people entering and leaving Rejuve, we do not want to deal with the sometimes paralyzing effect of first exposure. The qualifying visit gets that out of the way.”

“And ... and I can earn a half month’s cost by doing that?”

“That’s right. It’s only because we are testing out some of our ideas.”

“Could I still earn another half if I arranged the family interviews?”

“Definitely.”

There was a period of silence, then Allison giggled a little. “I was just thinking maybe you would make Chad strip for that interview.”

“Well, I don’t have that on the discount list, but maybe it should be,” Greg laughed. “Anyway, our investigations are in full swing right now. If you think you can help us out, call me soon.”

“Wait! I will come out there, for sure. Wh ... when do you want me?”

“Could you be here by ten today? That should get you home before the boys get off the bus. To make it easier, shower or bathe at home and wear minimal clothing.”

Somehow, she got the phone in its appointed place and staggered to the bathroom. Coming out of the master bath shower, she reached for her robe automatically, then snorted at the absurdity. She was going to spend several hours naked, and she had never spent more than a few minutes out of bed without clothes on. Well, there was that one time, but...

She had grown to hate mirrors, but she could not keep from looking back at herself every time she passed one in the house. The view was awful, but she still could not resist. Where her once taut waist had been, there were now two distinguishable rolls. The dimples on her bottom just did not belong there, either. She never had skinny thighs, but now they jiggled. That was never supposed to happen.

Whether it was genetics or her commitment to exercise in younger years, her belly did not suffer as much as might be expected. Her always substantial breasts now sagged more and had those unsightly folds to the sides. It was enough to make her cry.

No, it was enough to make her act. Between the births of the boys, now seven and nine, she had trimmed down very quickly. After the second, she had worked just as hard, but came up seven or eight pounds short of her goal. From then on, it was two or three pounds a year. She had never quit working out, but what had worked before was now not enough.

There was certainly no pressure from Chad, and maybe that was part of the problem. A skinny nerd when she married him, exercise had just never been part of his life. He had added more weight than she had, with a good part of it just filling in where he had been too thin.

Having been a two-sport athlete in high school and active in intramurals in

college, conditioning was natural to her. She knew when she fell in love with Chad that different views of physical conditioning could be a threat to their future closeness.

And there was no doubt that she did love Chad. His brilliance, his humor, his gentleness, and his enduring infatuation with her had kept their love alive. He was a great provider and excellent father to the boys.

Unfortunately, he was becoming more and more of a blob. But she had joined him. On her thirty-fifth birthday, she had impulsively sent the letter and the check to Transformations. She had seriously tried three of the top weight loss programs, but the weight never stayed off for long.

Not blessed with a cover girl face, her features were nevertheless regular and pleasing and she had a brilliant smile. Her excellent shape had always been her pride. She had many other things in her life to be proud of, but she could not deal with the loss of her shape.

Sometimes she wondered if cutting back to three days a week at work had any effect on her weight, but that did not make sense. Apparently, the people at Transformations had done quite a bit of checking on her to know what days she would be at home.

The trip today would be by far the sneakiest thing she had ever done to Chad. That did not make her feel good, but she was trapped between bad feelings. Maybe the people she talked to today could counsel her on how to approach Chad.

Between arguments with herself, looks in a mirror, flights from the mirror, seeming to pee every half hour, and generally stalking around, it somehow came time to leave. She had not eaten breakfast, but the thought of food right then almost made her ill.

Randy was the obvious choice for the ‘escort’ for the first woman to go through the qualifying visit. From a life of criminal sexual abuse by his mother and sisters, his arrival at Lindsey’s had found nearly every woman instantly loving him. It did not take long before the abuse of his family was forgotten, and he found himself genuinely loving all of the women he encountered. He had an easy manner and was well-spoken. While just into a growth spurt, he was still small for his age and appeared younger than his years. The incongruity of his apparent youthfulness with his smooth, intelligent conversation style was irresistible to the women.

“Now, time is not the key factor, here, Randy,” Barbara Ventri reminded him. “If spending extra time with the woman can get her more relaxed, take the time. Tell her why you’re doing this. Tell her your story. Distract her from her own terror.”

Allison had been shocked to be invited out immediately. She decided to just do it without thinking about it. Following the GPS on her car, she felt her courage disappearing rapidly when she realized she was on the access road to Transformations.

The next shock was the apparent age of the boy who came out to meet her car. The shorts and shirt he wore showed his slight build. He waited a respectful distance away as she got unsteadily out of her car. “Hi. I’m Randy Jameson, and I’ll be your escort this afternoon. I live at Lindsey’s. Have you heard of it?”

“Oh, yes. Th ... there has been a lot of publicity,” Allison managed to say.

“Well, we are both test cases, Mrs. Graham. They took me out of school so I could be the first test escort. You are the first woman to test our qualification visit.”

After Allison locked her car, Randy did not seem to be in any hurry to get inside. Motioning around, he pointed to where the Rejuve building was going up in modules. Then he showed her which buildings were Transformations, Lindsey’s and Jenny’s.

“Mrs. Graham, it may not be any comfort to you, but I have seen a lot of naked women. Also, I spent a lot of my life naked because of the abuse from my mother and sisters. When I arrived at Lindsey’s, I had a persistent erection that I could not get rid of until I got some closure with them. I tell you this to emphasize that here, naked bodies are common. No one will look at you critically or disrespectfully. We are all about changing people, and you are taking a courageous first step toward change. I admire you.”

Randy made a remarkably courtly gesture to indicate they should enter the building. Allison suddenly felt like standing a little straighter and walking purposefully.

“Since Rejuve’s own building is not finished yet, your visit will be to the main Transformations offices. Here is the changing room. I’ll show you the lockers if you’ll follow me.”

It startled Allison when Randy just led her into the changing room, but again, she had to laugh at herself. When he had showed her just a few things, he started to leave.

“No. Stay, please,” Allison suddenly said. “You’re going to see me naked. There is nothing sacred about undressing. I just don’t ... I don’t think I can do this alone.”

“I’ll be glad to help,” Randy assured her. He leaned against the door to stay out of her ‘space’ as much as possible.

Allison was apparently much more afraid to be alone than she let on. She only had on two pieces of a track suit, and she took them off very quickly. Then, she ducked into the small bathroom and he could hear her peeing. When she came out, she was blushing and her lip was quivering a little.

“Who was the last male other than your husband or doctor to see you like this?” Randy asked, trying to break her mood.

Startled, Allison actually grinned briefly. “That will, uh, forever remain a secret.”

“You’re an athlete, aren’t you?” He changed subjects quickly.

“H ... how can you tell through this mess?” she moaned out.

“Oh, you’ll meet Barbara, the manager of Rejuve. She was a big-time college athlete. I just notice some similarities in the way you move.”

“But you probably never saw her like this,” Allison insisted.

“Needing to lose weight? No. But she was Tranformations’ first resident, and she had a lot to lose from what I hear. Mrs. Graham, we don’t have to go out there right now if you are still too nervous. We can just chat a while, if that will help.”

Allison plopped down rather ungracefully on a bench. “Earlier, you talked about a persistent erection as if it was a common cold. I don’t see how you can even discuss that. But ... but how did you even go to school, if it wouldn’t get soft?”