Chapter 7: The Bat Signal - Will Naked Students Be Naked No More?

Back at the Stripped for Florida kiosk at the Orlando airport, Janet noted in her iPad that it took longer than it should have for the staff to get the Ukrainian kids out of their clothes, even factoring in the delay over the guardianship documents. International customers sometimes took a bit longer, as there was more paperwork. And they couldn’t legally remove their kids’ clothing until the paperwork was complete, the fees paid and the Quick Strip adhered behind one ear.

When a family wanted to strip their kids, the goal was to get them naked quickly and conveniently, with little wait time. Florida was striving to be as tourist-friendly as possible, which is one reason for having a field coordinator like Janet observing and analyzing the operations.

Just as Janet was about to confer with the Stripped for Florida employees about how they could streamline the procedure, she spotted a family walking toward the kiosk. It was a man and woman and their 14 year old daughter Manny. Manny had dark brown hair and wore a white sundress.

Manny’s eyes grew wide gazing up at the colossal backlit graphic looming in the air above the kiosk. It featured a young boy and girl and the Stripped for Florida logo. Widening Manny’s eyes even more was the boy’s erection.

She was startled to see all this nakedness displayed right there in the airport, in full sight of everybody. But it was OK. It was Stripped for Florida!

The family was in the process of moving to Florida from Ohio, but this was Manny’s first time visiting the Naked State since the Stripped for Florida program began. She was not used to seeing images of kids with no clothes on. This would have been unthinkable back home. But there they were, the two now-famous Stripped for Florida kids, explicitly displayed 30 feet high by the state of Florida.

Then she saw the real deal, in the flesh. A naked boy and girl went sauntering by with their parents. And she spotted a boy across the terminal wearing nothing but sneakers. He was fully erect.

Manny had no idea that she was about to be Quick Stripped. Since she and her family were legally Florida residents now, she would remain naked until she was 21. Little did she know, when she reached for her white sundress while getting dressed that morning, that it was the last article of clothing she would be allowed to put on for the next seven years.

Janet always enjoyed seeing the surprise in kids’ eyes when they realized they would have to take off all their clothes, right then and there, in the middle of the airport, right in front of everybody, and would not be permitted to put anything back on for the rest of their vacations. (Or, in Manny’s case, for years.) No matter how traumatic it seemed at first, Janet knew they’d soon they’d be running through the world “nekkid” as the day they were born (or at least through the state of Florida), and loving it.

But today Janet would not have the pleasure of witnessing this young girl’s official disrobing. Her anticipation was cut short with a phone call.

“Hi Janet, this is Russ. Listen, we need you to come to the office for a meeting in the morning at nine.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“It’s that hearing in Tallahassee next Monday.”

“Oh, about the new regulations for cold weather?”

“Yes, that’s the one. But word is, Charlie Abercrombie is planning on turning it into an inquisition.”

“Sheesh. Not the old Separationists again,” said Janet, rolling her eyes.

“More like the Secessionists. We think they’re gonna push for a complete exclusion from the program.”

“Haven’t they beat that dead horse enough?”

“They’re recruiting a kid from each of five counties, supposedly to testify about how cold they were last week. They’ve chosen the first stripped kids in each county, and we have intel that their real plan is to get them to unleash sordid tales about how traumatic it was being forced to be the only nude kid among their peers.”

“Oh good Lord.”

“Well it could work. We’ve got to counter. Listen, gotta run, I’ll fill you in the morning. Thanks, Janet.”

“OK, Russ, I’ll be on the next plane.”