Chapter 115: Welcome to the Fourth Night

As the stage lights came on inside the Redsands Festival Hall a lone figure stepped forward from the Redsands First Congregational Church Youth Choir. That figure was the almost sixteen year old Jessie Harper moving forward inside a crisply defined circle of light as the lights on the choir behind here dimmed back down to nothing. For Jessie Harper it was like being in a prison cell of light. Beyond the small circle of light she stood in was a wall of black. That wall of black shrouded the faces of the two thousand strong audience in front of her and her own choir and support musicians behind her. Even though she knew she was not alone it still felt every inch like she was. Nervously she brushed at the flowing Pageant gown she wore trying to smooth out non-existent wrinkles and creases. Once her hands were still Jessie waited for about thirty seconds to calm herself completely before delivering a few introductory thoughts that were all very well rehearsed and done without the aid of any prompt cards.

“Welcome” Jessie Began - even though she couldn’t see a single one of those she was welcoming. They were all just ghosts and phantasms as far as she knew - on the other side of that quantum divide between day and night.

“Welcome” she said again, “to the fourth and final night of the Redsands Teen Beauty Pageant. It has been my privilege to be part of the choir behind me providing the opening and closing acts of the previous three shows. Those three shows have seen the bitter/sweet elimination and selection process produce the twenty remaining participants that will tonight compete for the title of the Redsands Teen Beauty Pageant King and Queen. In total there will be six winning trophies awarded. The first two going to the King and Queen champions followed by four trophies going to the runners up - two male and two female. The prize for the King and Queen winners will be fifty thousand dollars each - half of which must go towards their college education. The remaining half is theirs to do with as they please ... with parental or guardian consent. The runners up will receive a lesser amount in the form of generous gift vouchers from some of the shows leading sponsors.”

A small wave of applause murmured its way through the audience and became the only real clue for Jessie that there really was someone out there beyond that dark veil. When it was all quiet again Jessie continued her opening soliloquy.

“Also, most of you will be aware of the fact by now that this Teen Beauty Pageant has involved a bit of nudity. I have performed before you completely naked as has the choir right behind me. Last week we also had the brother and sister MCs host the show from beginning to end in nothing but their birthday suits. As yet, though, we haven’t seen much nudity amongst the competing participants apart from those who were, sadly, eliminated. They had the opportunity to say their farewell dressed how they liked with quite a few choosing the naked option. Tonight we hope to change that with the competing participants parading in various period costumes plus another swimsuit section then finally a completely nude section. Tonight you will have the pleasure of a visual feast of thirty teenagers showing off their young, healthy and totally naked bodies just for your gratification ... and your vote! As the show progresses please feel free at any time to use the app on your phones to give your voting scores for the various categories the teen boys and girls will be competing in. Those scores will be combined with the judges’ scores for deciding who the final winners will be.”

Jessie paused again to give herself a break then added, “Also, another aspect of tonight’s show that the NTFLN is happily endorsing is ... SEX!”

An instantaneous applause accompanied by lots of wolf whistling erupted around the auditorium when Jessie mentioned the ‘sex’ word. She had to pause once more for a minute or two this time before it was quiet enough for her to continue again.

“The rising tolerance and acceptance of public nudity has also change forever our societal views on sex. One particular aspect of this change is the new phenomenon of this thing called Family Sex. Open nudity and open sexuality has brought a whole new level of awareness that families can now experience by having sex together as a group. Not all that long ago such a thing would have been regarded as just down right perverted and immoral but now it is openly practised by many families and amongst all age groups in those families. Doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and law enforcement agencies have all started registering huge downward shifts in so many forms of family violence and anti-social behaviour amongst those that have embraced this concept of Family Sex. And that’s in only the first few short years of the idea’s existence. Who knows what its total impact might be in the decades to come. Anyway, in the light of all that it is the NTFLN’s aim to not only promote the acceptance of full public nudity but to also foster as much as possible open sexual expression and in particular open sexual expression within the family and in so doing to hopefully help build a better world in some small way. On my part I am now not ashamed in the least to admit that I have been enjoying Family Sex for some time with two families ... my own family and that of my best friend. I just know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it has made me a much more confident and balanced person in so many areas of my life. I am also just so greatly appreciative of the fact that the church I belong to is also just so open to all these very progressive ideas and that its Reverend, my step-father, is also right up to date on the Family Sex side of things too.”