Chapter 72: A Naturist’s Philosophy

Tamara did like Peter’s synthetic muscle idea.

“Peter! That’s a wonderful idea. I had an idea that the solution that Sonny came up with seemed to work more like a muscle fiber than the rod that I had originally visualized, but then we got to talking about bureaucratic stuff, like my giving him more funds for the project, and forgot about that line of thought. When we get back to the cabin, I’ll check on the characteristics of muscles to see how this polymer fiber stacks up, and email my patent guru to add your idea to the claims. I’m gonna add your name as an inventor too. Tom, I’m very open about sharing credit for innovation, so if you have an idea, let me know. I’ll pay for any of your own patent legal work, even if I’m not a co-inventor.”

Tom smiled at her. “That’s very generous. I think that I’ll like trying out this project.”

“Good. Peter tell you about my NDA policy?”

“Oh jeez. He sure did. Damn, you guys are real sharks, aren’t you?” Tom laughed. “I’ll be happy to autograph one for you.”

“It’s ‘cause when you work with me, I like to free-associate my ideas and my lawyers insist that I should protect them.”

Tom nodded. “Sure. In my engineering curriculum, there was a course on entrepreneurship and we had a whole unit on patents and intellectual property.”

“Yeah, we did too,” Peter said. “Hey, that was a sophomore class. Tamara, you skipped the sophomore year EE curriculum, so I guess you didn’t take that class.”

“Ah’m thinkin’ that she might be able t’teach it, actually,” Terence chimed in.

He had walked up while the others were speaking.

Tom turned to him and Terence grinned back. “That gal just whips out patentable ideas all th’time,” he said. “Her ‘n’ Emma too, but Tamara’s in her own league. Hey, how many patents are y’all a co-inventor on with th’other Hopkins faculty, anyway?”

Tamara shrugged. “Don’t really know, now. Maybe six to eight in the last year, but the university patent office is doing most of those, not my legal team, so I haven’t kept up with those. So maybe twenty.”

Tom looked at her. “Damn,” was all he could say.

By mid-afternoon, some of the members of the Winsberg-and-Gibson clan began rolling in and Peter and Barbara got busy introducing everyone. When the evening came, the whole family decided to have dinner in the restaurant. Kevin and his group immediately became popular with the cousins, especially since four of them had been knighted by England’s queen. A telling of their story was demanded by everyone.

Denise laughed at the attention she was getting. “Hey, you guys; Tamara was knighted too, you know!” she chided the group.

“We know,” JoAnne shot back, “but she’s a cousin, so she doesn’t count. She’s not a famous celebrity like you!”

That drew laughter.

Gradually everyone began separating into smaller groups and began drifting apart, some going to the pool for a dip and some to the pavilion to listen to the DJ music there. Tom had noticed that all during the day, Amelia had seemed to be much more withdrawn than anyone else and that Jeremy had been staying close to her and, Tom assumed, whispering words of encouragement to her. Tom was very familiar with the problems of the acclimatization of a new nudist. His stepfather had been one, and his journey to becoming comfortable in a social nudism environment had been a difficult one. So Tom decided to see if he could help support Jeremy and talk to Amelia about being a new nudist.

“Hey, guys,” Tom spoke to them as they were leaving the restaurant. “Got some time? I’d like to chat a bit.”

“Oh, sure, Tom,” Jeremy said. “We’d like to get some peaceful time for a bit; it’s been such a rag today and Amelia’s knackered.”

Tom laughed. “Okay, translation?”

Amelia grinned at Tom. “Goodness, that’s proper queen’s English, Tom! Today’s been a rowdy time and I’m kinda worn out.”

“Oh, sure. I love your accents; make you sound like royalty. Anyway, this nudism business is a whole new experience for you, too, I can see,” Tom commented. “I heard that you both have no experience with social nudism.”

“No, we really don’t, but we did do some smaller group activities with Denise and Kevin where everyone was starkers,” Amelia told him. “They were very self-contained and structured. Nothing like this.”

Tom nodded in agreement. “You mean like a massage class. Right; Denise did mention that you guys were in those classes with them. Well, those classes are nothing like this experience. Getting used to a big boisterous nudist group like this family uses a huge amount of psychic energy. Your thoughts probably kept jumping back to ‘why the heck am I naked?’ all day. Right?”

“Oh yes! That’s it, exactly,” Amelia exclaimed. “You must know a lot about nudism, I guess.”

“I do. I grew up in a nudist family, just like Barbara and Peter did. But their family has a much older, ah, pedigree than mine. My sister and I grew up as nudists and we couldn’t understand why all the kids in our school couldn’t be nude when they wanted.”

“Oi, don’t talk about kids being naked in school,” Jeremy said with a scowl. “Amelia and I had some bad experiences with that rot.”

“Sorry. But that wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Tom apologized. “I didn’t have all that great a time in it, myself.”

“You had to do it?” Amelia asked. “In high school?”

“Yeah. But we can get to that part a little later.”

“But ... but if you grew up as a nudist, then being in the Program should’ve been no problem,” Jeremy objected. “Anyway, why do you say you thought kids should be naked if they wanted?”

“Personal philosophy. I’ve always strongly believed that growing up in a household where nudism was practiced was the best possible upbringing. My sister and I were taught from our earliest childhood years that our natural state didn’t need clothes. Being with other nude kids—and adults too—at our resort, which was virtually our second home, we could see the complete lack of concern that everyone had about seeing folks’ naked bodies and that meant that showing our own bodies wasn’t a big deal.

“For me as a kid, it seemed like seeing people who were wearing clothes, I mean people not at the resort, like when shopping and at school, was where it felt weird. Then, before my resort friends and I even hit puberty and got interested in the other sex, we had learned that naturism wasn’t about sex; we had learned that nudity was a state of being and that sex—for my friends, for my sister at age thirteen, and me at eleven—sex was a private activity that the adults did, not kids.

“Obviously this familiarity with nude bodies made us nudist kids less fixated with sex as opposed to the other kids in school, the textile ones—damn, the talk I heard in the school locker room about this guy getting to see that girl’s tits or about that other guy getting some upskirt flashes—to them, naked bodies were the forbidden fruit; seeing girls’ nudity was almost like a lottery win. No, I take that back. Actually ‘scoring’ was the real win. Anyway. But then that idiotic naked Program started up in my high school late in my senior year and the Program’s nudity was totally all about sex and nothing except sex. More about that in a sec.”

“That’s exactly right!” Amelia exclaimed. “In my school, the very first thing they did was forcibly strip a girl in front of the whole school and then tried to make her wank herself!”

“Damn, that’s awful ... you need to tell me what happened, but hold it for later. I was talking about growing up as a nudist. So I think that there were real and important benefits to being in a nudist family. I’ve heard that kids who’re brought up as nudists are less likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease, and guys are less likely to get a girl pregnant or teen girls get pregnant, than non-nudist kids who’re driven by hormones or peer pressure—or both—to engage in risky behavior. Another thing, I could see that many of my textile classmates had far more anxieties and hang-ups about their body image and most were fixated on how kids of the opposite sex thought about how they looked, than I did. My body is all me; I own it, and I’m proud of myself. That’s what nudism did for me, it gave me a positive body image and lots of respect for girls too. I firmly believe that our world would be a better place if more people embraced mixed-gender social nudity. People certainly would be less sex-obsessed, anyway.”

“Wow, that’s persuasive,” Amelia said. “You almost sold me. You mentioned that you had to be in that Naked in School thing. Jeremy told you that we both had horrid times with it in the U.K. He had it in his school and also, when my school tried to start it, that’s when they stripped that other girl, the one they tried to make to wank herself. And I was attacked then by several adults who tried to strip me but Jeremy saved me. My school never had the Program start, ‘cuz Denise and Kevin, Jeremy too, got it stopped there.”

“Yeah, I did hear about that; what you guys did was fantastic. And Denise told me that you know how Cindy and the rest of her Avery gang, together with my group at Georgia Poly, discredited everything about the Program.”

“Yes, but if you were a nudist, why did the Program bother you so much?” Jeremy asked. “You didn’t answer that one.”

“Simple, because it sexualized the kids—both those who were forced to be naked in it and everyone else too who had to see all the crap those kids had to endure. The Program had the opposite effect to what we were taught about proper treatment of other people. That was respect for others, respect for the privacy of their bodies—no forced and involuntary objectification by others. The way it forces the victim kids to be embarrassed and humiliated is cruel. And I don’t need to mention how their being coerced or forced to perform sex acts in public is ... well, totally immoral.”

Amelia nodded emphatically. “That’s exactly why me and Jeremy were opposed to it as well. And if you were a nudist and had problems with it, how much worse would it be for a kid without that background?”

“Sure; I think it was,” Tom agreed. “Add to that the fact that in a nudist environment, virtually everyone is nude. In the high school, only a few kids were nude each week. So they became targets.”

“And I’m glad the Program is gone everywhere now, I think. Say, you told us about what it was like growing up as a nudist. How did your family become nudists, anyway?” Jeremy asked.

“My folks were nudists when they themselves were growing up, actually. Mom and Dad met at a resort as young kids and both of their families were naturists—their families were nudist resort members and Mom and Dad grew up together at the resort. They went to different elementary schools but eventually came to be in the same high school. Mom said that both of their families practiced home naturism too and the rest of both of their families and their friends, too, weren’t judgmental about Mom and her brother and sister or Dad and his sister being naked around their homes as kids and pre-teens.

“Say, I should mention that this period was when society was kinda permissive and open; the high-school swimming classes were done with the kids nude and several beaches were clothing optional too, so lots of kids skinny-dipped. This was southern California, after all. They even had naked group psych sessions—naked encounter, they were called.

“Anyway, Mom said that her parents sometimes covered up or even stayed clothed when friends were over. And no one paid much attention to their kids—that was Mom and her siblings—being naked at home, Mom told me. Her parents would usually be naked too but kept a coverup handy if they had visitors. Mom didn’t care if her mom’s visitors saw her nude and frequent visitors were used to her and her siblings being nude too. Mom told me that most people were fine with that and some of them even told Mom’s parents that they themselves didn’t need to put on their robes if they didn’t want to. Grandma was so open about home nudism that she made a few converts to nudism too; Mom said that her mom had convinced several of her friends to become nudists. But at times, a visitor would tell Mom’s parents that they were uncomfortable with having their nude kids around, so Mom said that she’d just hang out with her sibs in one of their bedrooms till the visitor left.

“I don’t remember hearing much about Dad’s childhood because he died when I was eleven, that was before I got curious about my folks’ childhoods. He was a Navy pilot and got shot down during one of those Middle East wars. But Mom told me that his family home life was much the same as hers.”

“Oh, how awful about your dad. Sorry to hear about that. So that was the way your household was when you were little; it was just like your grandparents’ households with home nudity?” Amelia asked.

“Yeah—pretty much. My sister’s two years older and we were very close growing up. Still are. When I was about thirteen, Mom met a great guy and got remarried, but he wasn’t a nudist. We—my family—got him to try it. I mentioned earlier that he had a hard, awkward time of getting into it but now he loves it too. So that’s how I noticed that you, Amelia, seemed to occasionally look uneasy. Is it getting any better?”

“Oh, sure. It’s ‘cuz part of my childhood was spent in a Muslim community, I think. You know how the girls have to cover up, and in Indonesia, even the less-observant cover up too since it’s a custom. My dad’s family isn’t at all observant, but my mother’s whole family is very conservative, almost radically so. So I grew up in a culture where being naked is incredibly wrong and those are the thoughts I had to wrestle with. You know, Jeremy got in trouble for protecting a Muslim girl’s honor when they stripped her in his school.”

“Jeez, now that’s a story I’d like...” Tom started to say when a bunch of the others found them.

“Hey, here’s where you guys went,” Mike Gibson, one of Peter’s cousins, called as they approached. “A bunch of us voted and we wanna hear some Program stories.”

Peter was with them and looked embarrassed. “Wasn’t my idea but I couldn’t talk them out of it,” he apologized.

The intruders included all of the cousins who were at the resort this weekend: Mike Gibson, Madeline and Melodie Richardson, JoAnne and Frank Winsberg and Audrey and Ernie Winsberg. The older cousins had only planned to come for the final weekend. With the cousins were Cindy, Denise, Kevin, and Peter.

Peter continued, “We’re meeting Tamara, Barbara and Terence. Barbara said that she’ll protect us from being hounded to tell our stories if we get too uncomfortable. Like me.”

“Yeah, but we wanna hear about the Program in England too,” Mike said as some of the others nodded, smiling.

“What, you guys perverts?” Tom grinned. “That crap’s all in the past, thank god. Why the hell would anyone want to re-hash it?”

Peter was making a thumbs-up gesture to Tom. “Yeah, Tom. You said it,” he said.

“I think it’s morbid curiosity,” Denise suggested. “They want to see what they missed.”

“I tried to convince them that they’ve already heard all about my brief time in the Program and what happened to me,” Peter complained.

“Yeah, but that was when you were crushed by what happened to Amy,” Mike objected. “That wasn’t like a real Program experience.”

“I beg your pardon?” Denise broke in. “A real Program experience? Anyone who’s been in it, no matter what happened in their participation and how long it was, had a real Program experience.”

Mike looked down, abashed. “Sorry...”

“I definitely concur with that, Denise,” Jeremy said as Peter looked at Denise and nodded to her in gratitude.

“Aw, we just wanted to hear some ... um, sexy stories,” Melodie offered. “The way we’ve heard about the Program, that was an exciting time to be in high school with sexy stuff always happening.”

“I think we need to set a bunch of people’s heads back on straight,” Kevin chuckled. “Seems that the Program’s become a legend just after its own time. Let’s find the others and give these perverts an earful.”

“Yes!” Ernie pumped a fist. “Let’s go.”

They found Tamara, Barbara, and Terence at the pool talking to some teens, including Peter’s resort friends Gary and Herb, and when Mike saw who was with them, he rushed over.

“Theresa!” he shouted, hugging his girlfriend. “Wow! You said you weren’t coming till next week. Damn, this makes my day, no, week!”

Theresa giggled. “Change of plans. Mom went to visit her sister while Dad’s still working, so that’s why Toby, Marcia, and Jack are here.” She pointed to the pool.

Peter began introducing everyone, including his resort friends, and those in the pool got out to be introduced too.

Mike looked at Marcia. “Jeez, Marcia, lookin’ good! You’re a soph now, right? Missed seeing you last summer.”

“We took a big trip last summer so didn’t get to come here,” Marcia answered. “You ‘n’ Theresa are still a real item, too.”

Theresa grinned at Mike, hugging him around the waist. “Yeah, Marcia, we are.” She looked at Mike. “Marcia says she has a boyfriend too but he’s not a nudist. Hey, Marcia, is he a keeper?”

Marcia blushed. “Let’s say that he’s a work in progress.”

“Um, I don’t like the sound of that,” Mike told Marcia. “If he’s not treating you right or not respecting you, you should think about how you really feel about him.”

“Hey, everyone,” Ernie called, “we’re going into the clubhouse for that talk about the Program.”

“What’s that?” Theresa asked.

“Um, we asked Peter’s friends about what happened to them in the Program,” Mike told her. “They were all in it. Um, mostly all. You wanna hear about it?”

Theresa nodded, then Marcia did. Toby, who had been talking to Gary and Herb, heard, and called, “Me too!”

Gary and Herb, shrugging, decided to tag along too. It had become a big crowd. After everyone got settled in the clubhouse, they began looking at each other, wondering how to begin, so Barbara took charge.

“I’ve elected myself as the emcee for this little event,” she said in an authoritative voice. “So that makes me the ref and no one argues with the ref if she decides things are too difficult for someone to recall their memories. Got it? And all you cousins know about Peter’s experience. Peter, have anything you want to say about the Program?”

“Totally no, just glad it’s done with.”

“Okay. You all know Peter’s story—the cousins, at least. If not, see him privately. Now you might not know it, but we’re honored to have some world celebrities here,” Barbara told the group, smiling at how everyone began looking around the clubhouse to see who might have entered. “To end your suspense, a bunch of people with us in our group here are the ones who got the Program ended, not only in this country, but in England too.”