Chapter 49: A Memorable Welcome

“Are you ready?” whispered Jessie from under her sheet.

“Yes, I am. But shhhhh! I think I can hear them coming” whispered back Bjorn from under his own sheet.

Jessie suddenly heard the same sound Bjorn had just heard and couldn’t resist the temptation to pull back the top of her sheet and peek out. She had just heard that slow roll of car tires over gravel and now she could see a car proceeding in under the entrance sign into the Camp Starkers car park. That car was soon followed by another car and then another one and another one until the whole entourage of vehicles were on the property and turning off their engines. That entourage was carrying the parents, caregivers and friends coming to Camp Starkers for a day visit to see how the Music Retreat was progressing for the Redsands First Congregational Church Youth Choir. That group had just taken the two hour drive up from Redsands, Georgia and were about to be welcomed onto the site in a way that they would all remember for a very long time.

A naked Jessie Harper watched the first few cars roll in then gave an impulsive little giggle that was quickly followed by nineteen other naked people hiding under bed sheets going ‘shhhhh!’

Jessie tucked her head down again as she pulled the sheet back over her naked body and just waited in silence with the other naked bodies all doing the same thing on the lawn in front of the Main Pavilion of Camp Starkers.

What greeted these day visitors to Camp Starkers, as they got out of their cars, was a grassy area littered about with twenty, body sized lumps covered in white bed sheets. As the visitors slowly moved forward they were met by Sonika Jharm dressed in a bath robe and nothing else. The bath robe was done up in the front so no one could tell that she had nothing on underneath but that would all soon change.

Sonika directed the group over to some bench seats set out on the edge of the grassy area just for the occasion. When everyone was seated the choirmaster gave two quick claps of her hands to let the show begin. She had remained silent through out the last fifteen minutes or so and the visitors stayed just as quiet too.

What followed was a magnificent song and dance routine that started with the Creation Story as told in the Old Testament. This included Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden and moved on to the Earth’s final reconciliation back to the way things should have been to start with ... which of course meant everyone dancing around totally naked in front of their newly arrived guests.

The first part of the routine saw the twenty naked people on the lawn (teenagers and adults) slowly rise up to music and singing that the kids had written themselves over the last two days. They had had a wonderful session on Creative Dance and Interpretive Music and were now putting what they had learned into practice.

As the group of twenty lifted themselves up off the ground they kept their sheets wrapped around their bodies simulating the creation of Adam then Eve. At the appropriate moment those sheets were discarded as they had the breath of life breathed into them. They all then danced about naked and totally happy until a shadowy figure danced into the group holding a large red apple and a black suit hanging from a coat hanger. That shadowy figure was Troy Pearson all painted up in black body paint and wearing an old potato sack over the trunk of his body.