Chapter 9

Lisa had watched the Parkhursts leave for the family picnic with more than a little trepidation. Cassie and Penny had been over for Sunday morning, but knowing that Bert would be gone, they had left for home. Lisa had almost been tempted to go with them, but Bert had sensed that and talked her out of it.

The big SUV that served as a limo was barely through the gates of the estate when Erma came and put a gentle hand on Lisa's shoulder. "Scared, Honey?"

Just the evidence of caring brought moisture to Lisa's eyes and she could only nod. "Do ... do you work every day?" Lisa asked

"Oh, not really," Erma answered. "I don't keep track, though. This is home for me, so..." she ended with a shrug.

"So, you feel comfortable here?"

"Mrs. Parkhurst and the kids are nice to us," Erma assured the girl. "Mr. Parkhurst isn't that difficult. He might be if it wasn't for his wife, but we all get along with him OK. Say, it's hot again. Let's us go for a swim."

"I don't have a suit."

"You swam without one yesterday," Erma pointed out. "Tell you what. I'll swim without one, too. You know, with all of this nudity all over the place, I've never tried it. If I can show this old body, you shouldn't worry."

"Are there any men around?"

"Nope, just four of us women," Erma assured her.

Lisa wanted to protest, but Erma was being so kind that she did not go through what she had the day before. They had been in the pool only a few minutes, when a naked Maidchen joined them. Her daughter Gretchen stood in the shade on the side of the pool, looking hot but reluctant.

It was Lisa who called out to Gretchen, whom she had barely met, "If you want to wear a suit, that's OK." The shame of that idea was apparently too much for Gretchen, and she quickly stripped and joined the others.

Bert's kindness to Lisa had made a huge impact on her, and she was grateful for that. The concern shown by the women, though, including Eleanor, almost made her cry. Her mother was the most significant woman in Lisa's life, and from her, the poor girl got mostly criticism and pressure, particularly about her weight. Her mother seemed almost panicky about Lisa's excess pounds. Both of the parents were rather short and very slender, and that just made matters worse.

It was Maidchen who suggested that they get dressed after an hour and a half. They were all enjoying a snack when Eleanor, Win, and Bert returned.

At the picnic, Eleanor had been thrilled by the way Win stayed beside her. At his remark to Mother Parkhurst about not understanding her nudity and not liking it but standing with her anyway, she had nearly swooned. She had not been too disoriented to notice the matriarch's reaction, though. The old woman had clearly seen something that she never expected from Win - something positive.

The only things that Win had taken strong stances on in the past were the popular causes that they championed together. He was not one to go against the mainstream. She knew that having her display her body to the clan bothered him a great deal. At the same time, she could sense feelings of pride from him at the reactions of many of his male counterparts.

The prevalence of nudity in the culture was not easy for many to deal with, and when it got very personal, Win had his mixed reactions. Eleanor had been the one to push it at home, and it had taken her a while to get him to go along. The very first time had been the incredible Saturday encounter with his enraged and vengeful daughter. How does a father live down what she had done to him?

When Bert started going naked to support Molly and to 'practice' for the Program, Win had wondered if the boy was really his son. That kind of determination was something Win had only had to exercise in sports, never in real life. Despite his expressions of disgust, he had watched Bert carefully. Win had numerous business dealings, primarily involved in managing their considerable assets. In those dealings, he ran into many hard-driving, aggressive people. Bert was exhibiting some of the same traits, at least as far as determination.

Then there was Molly's running away and her incredible naked broadcast. Win may not have been very close to his children, but he did know that Molly was a very private, modest person. Again, he hid his astonishment with expressions of disgust. All the while, he wondered where his offspring had acquired their intensity of belief and the zeal with which they stuck to their resolutions.

When Eleanor shed her clothes in remorse after Molly's unbelievable naked broadcast, Win knew where his children got it. He was also certain that his whole family had lost their sanity. The naked teens hanging around with Bert and Eleanor's naked shopping trip just added to his bewilderment.

Friday, after Molly's broadcast and her abduction, Eleanor was too absorbed in her agony to pay any attention to Win. That night, though, she gave Win sex like they had not had for quite a while. He tried to remain aloof and remote, but he only succeeded in not talking. Everything else about him had participated fully.

All day Saturday, he tried to understand what was driving his family and why they would act the way they were. Seeing Molly on another TV show added more questions. His attempts to dissuade his wife from going naked to the big clan picnic were rather half-hearted since he knew they would be fruitless.

Right up until they walked onto the yard of the matriarch's estate, he had planned to be sure his feelings about what his wife was doing were well known. When Bert proudly offered his arm to his mother, Win was shamed. He really did love his wife, and he had to admit that he admired her courage, whether or not he fathomed her motivation. He decided it would be best to play the role of the supportive husband. His wife's insanity would not be blamed on him.

When Mother Parkhurst asked what he thought of Eleanor's nudity, he told the truth. However, he also added the part about supporting her anyway, something he certainly had not planned on. Part of the reason was his rather combative feelings toward the clan leader. Her opinion of him had never been a secret, and he was feeling ornery. If Mother Parkhurst did not approve of Eleanor's display, Win could get in a little jab by declaring his support.

Imagine his surprise when his declaration met with surprise and approval. He would have to ponder why that had happened because at the moment he had no idea. The old woman's rare 'vote of confidence' carried him through the greeting of all of the other families and the scorn, ridicule, and anger that was thrown at Eleanor by some for her symbolic nudity.

Despite his expressions of anger and disapproval at home, Win had been unable to take his eyes off of Eleanor in the two and a half days after she shed her clothes. Since he had first met her, he had felt bewitched, usually happily bewitched. Almost twenty years later, the spell had not been broken.

The care that she had lavished on her magnificent body had paid off wonderfully as he and Bert led her around the grounds of the matriarch's mansion. He had always been proud that he had married Eleanor. It may have been a cliche, but she was indeed his trophy. Win could not help comparing his wife to the other women. In fact, he found himself visualizing the others naked, side by side with Eleanor. To his mind, even the teens could not compare.

Even through his pride of 'ownership' and his building arousal, Win could not help but notice more about his wife. Her composure was astonishing, as was her memory. She seemed to remember everything about everyone. Seemingly for the first time, he was aware that she took control of every conversation. She did not do it to be mean or critical, there was just so much force of personality and so much intelligence that it happened naturally.

For Eleanor's part, Win's gallant support was a surprise, but a very welcome one. Adrenalin carried her through until they left the party, but in the limo afterward, she nearly collapsed. Part way home, she began to recover, and what took her over then was arousal because of Win's manly stand in support of her. She snuggled close to him for the remainder of the ride, and when they arrived at home, she towed him directly to the master suite and closed the door.

To her, Win's attentiveness and his defense of her was machismo of the first order. That, combined with the tension of her exposure ordeal, left her extremely horny.

When she started removing his pants, he was about to protest, but her hand reaching in to grasp his manhood squelched that. A nod of approval from the matriarch and a frantic sexual assault from his beautiful wife were not valid causes for protest. All of the day's events and sensations combined to give Win a feeling of power, and Eleanor's apparent need were enticement enough. He took charge, and the next hour was truly memorable.

While Molly was making her surprise visit to the Parkhurst family outing, Curt was busier than ever on the Net. Jason was able to give him the lists of Program kids for seven schools that started the next day. One of his 'high-risk' kids was on a list, and that drove him to frantic activity.

Curt was able to contact the boy, and ended up having to tell him straight out that he would have to strip the next morning. It was a district where no parental exemption was offered. The boy, Darren, had parents who were sympathetic to his fears but felt helpless because they did not have the money to send him anywhere. It was a case where Curt could deal with the parents, and he did. Jason convinced Curt to turn Darren over to one of his people so Curt could keep on top of more situations, and Curt reluctantly agreed.

In each of the schools where the list was known, Curt had at least one contact through the chat rooms. He used those contacts to reach as many of the kids on the lists as possible. Unlike Darren, he did not want to alert the others that they would be chosen. Instead, he just probed their feelings about the Program and asked hypothetically how they would react if they were ordered to strip in the morning.

By the time Molly returned, arrangements had been made for Darren to be picked up later that evening and for him to become the first student at the new sanctuary school that was yet to be built. In the interim, Darren would stay on the grounds of the Pritchard estate. Curt hoped that he would be able to assist in finding other at-risk kids.

Hooverton High School had already given notice that they could not take any more transfer students unless the families actually moved to town. From Crosley and three other nearby towns where the Program was just starting, the school had picked up enough extra students to more than fill all of their classes. The 'refugees' would need a whole new school.

After leaving the Parkhurst mansion around noon on Sunday, more than a little envious of Lisa, who got to stay, Penny was fidgety all afternoon, not able to stay with anything. Her mind kept replaying the naked shopping on Saturday morning, which had been absolutely unbelievable to her.

All the way over in the SUV, Penny had been overcome by the feeling of unreality. That she had acutally undressed in front of Bert still had not sunk in. How had she let Cassie and Mrs. Parkhurst talk her into leaving the house naked? Going into a store? She wanted to cry out for Darryl to stop and take her back, but after a look at Cassie's excitement and Mrs. Parkhurst's determination, she just couldn't. It was so much courage on her part - more like paralysis.

When Penny had gotten into the store, her heart had been pounding from just hurrying the short distance from the car out in the open. Then, just inside the door had stood two muscular men who were quite clearly waiting to help them. The men were naked from the waist up, and wore only what looked like dancer's tights. But Mrs. Parkhurst had said there weren't any male ... customers. Penny was about to object to being tricked, but things happened too fast.

"M ... M ... Mrs. Parkhurst?" One of the men had exclaimed, while the other stood frozen at the sight before him.

Clara, the manager of the very elite, very successful boutique, had been right behind her two employees. She had discovered some time ago that most of her customers loved having a good-looking man wait on them, even for the most intimate of items - especially for the most intimate of items. She made certain that her male employees were hetero, or at least bi. The value of an undisguised reaction, such as the one to Eleanor and her young companions, had made Clara a lot of money.

"Roger! Parker!" Clara had chided good-naturedly. "Where are your manners? You would think that we never had nude customers before."

"But ... but ... Mrs. Parkhurst never ... and ... Oh, God!" Parker had stopped and just stared at Penny. Remembering her earlier experience with Bert, Penny had glanced down at his crotch and had seen a hint of movement in the already impressive bulge.

Clara had the tights especially designed for her male employees, incorporating a variant of the historic cod piece. Above average endowment and a model's build had to be demonstrated before candidates could even bother to fill out an application. For a time, she had tried having her men work nude. The women, however, seemed to prefer the current outfit. The package was covered, but because the penis was held in an upright position by the thin, stretchy material, any swelling was plainly visible.

Penny had read the male reaction for the affirmation of her body's appeal that it was. Though still unable to move, she had flushed all over and shivered involuntarily.

Eleanor had broken up the tableau. "I ... need some platforms. I want to get some for Penny, here, also," she had said with a gesture toward the motionless girl.

One of the men had taken each of them, while Cassie tagged along with Penny. Cassie's help had definitely been needed, because Penny had been almost zombie-like as Parker had her try different height samples and he and Cassie had commented graphically on how each height affected her posture and the look of her thighs and bottom.

When Parker had her sit for a final fitting, she had struggled to keep her thighs together. He had gotten up and handed her a towel. "Put this over your crotch, Miss, if it will make you more comfortable. I need to move your legs apart."

No sooner had Penny placed the towel between her legs when Cassie had snatched it away to a gasp from Penny. "Parker, how many naked women have you helped this week?"

"Uh, several, Miss."

"And how many of them got your dick that long?"

"None, Miss." At that answer, Cassie had grabbed both of Penny's knees and spread them apart before her friend could react."

"Cassie!"

"Just give him a good look and get it over with," Cassie had said kindly. "He won't be the last to see it, that's for sure."

As dinner time approached on Sunday, Penny's agitation increased as she replayed the shopping trip over and over in her mind. She could not seem to think past the reactions to her bare body from Bert, Darryl, Mr. Parkhurst, and the men at the store. She wanted more of that. It told her that her mother was wrong, that her big body was impressive - most of all, that at least some men thought she was sexy.

Penny was not an exhibitionist. In fact, she was quite modest. But she was deeply wounded from years of her mother's expressed shame at her oldest daughter's physique. Penny was the second of four children. The oldest, her seventeen-year-old brother Rick, was built like her mother. He was athletic, being an excellent runner, but even though a couple of inches taller than Penny, she outweighed him. The third child, her thrirten-year-old sister Patti, was a young clone of her mother, while the youngest, eleven-year-old Brad was destined to be another offensive tackle.

None of Penny's siblings joined Sarah, their mother, in her belittlement of Penny's body. In fact, they were all sympathetic and supportive of their sister. What Penny was thinking about depended on her father. For all of his size and strength, he almost never went against his wife. He had never berated Sarah for her cruel remarks about Penny's size or her unreasonable requirements on how Penny must dress.

Besides her need for approval - for validation, Penny yearned to strike a blow at her mother. It was that anger she felt as she stripped and afixed her platforms. Barely able to speak, she dialed her father's study on the intercom. "Daddy, will you come up to my room for a minute, please?"

She was shaking almost too badly to stand when he walked through her door. This was much harder than the others who had seen her over the last two days. He stopped just inside her room, looked her up and down and simply asked "Why?"

"I think you know why," she answered. "I am coming to supper this way. Will you at least stay out of it?" As he nodded and backed from the room, his eyes were moist.

She waited until everyone else was seated to make her entrance to the large kitchen eating area. She came from behind her mother where only her father and her sister could see her. Her sister expressed shock, but said nothing in response to her signal for silence. As Penny walked behind her father, headed for her place on the far side next to her sister, she waited tensely for the expected explosion from her mother.

It was the gasp from her younger brother as she came into full view behind her father that alerted Sarah to Penny's presence. Jumping to her feet, Sarah screamed "Pennyyyyyyyyyy! Nooooooo! You get back to your room and get some clothes on, right now!"

"Sorry, Mother. I'm too hungry to take time for that. In fact, I don't have time to get dressed just to be around the house any more."

"Herbert! Do something about your daughter!" Sarah screamed at her husband.

"I am, dear. I am enjoying the gift of her awesome naked body."

None of Penny's siblings said a word. Sarah ranted for minutes longer, but subsided in frustration, sensing that she was all alone. No one ate much, and what little was eaten was consumed in total silence. Penny had her victory, but she was not able to celebrate.

Molly knew that Mother Parkhurst's order to withhold clan support from Congresswoman Letitia Watson was important news, and she was eager to share it with Jason Pritchard. However, by the time she was with Jason again, she had done a lot of thinking. She was still not sure how she felt about Jason's politics and his motivation. She did not disagree with him, but there may well have been reasons for disagremment that she knew nothing about. There were many things that he had not told them. It did not seem unfair to withhold some important things from him, as well.

Jason joined the two teens and Gwen for dinner after Molly's return. Her account of the picnic generated much amazement at Eleanor's stand, and the others wanted to hear more about the Parkhurst clan.

Molly, though, wanted to know more about Jason's politics, and she steered the talk in that direction. As she was trying to decide how to pose some questions, Gwen took the initiative for her.

"Jason, your Renewal group is very secretive. I would like to know just what your goals are. Curt and Molly have put themselves on the line for something they believe in, and it is helping you toward something you believe in. I think it is only fair that they can decide if what you want is something they want to take more risks for."

"Isn't it enough that you could get the Program killed?" Jason asked.

"Well, maybe," Curt said. "But we will probably be forever associated with you after that. I agree with Mom. I'm willing to carry any image, I guess, to protect the kids. I'd just like to know what it is."

Jason paused for a while and took a deep breath before speaking. "Those of us in Renewal have struggled a lot trying to come up with what you are asking for. As you can imagine with a group of pretty powerful people, we are not all in agreement. Personally, I choose to interpret the preamble to the Constitution very strictly.

"'Provide for the common defense' is the one that should be obvious. Unfortunately, many today interpret that as talking our way out of any conflict, but I think there is general agreement that the government is responsible for keeping us intact and independent as a country.

"The part about 'Promote the general welfare' is where things start to fall apart. Somehow, that has been twisted into a call for all-out socialism. 'Secure the blessings of liberty' has been similarly abused. To me, that means to keep the government the hell out of my life. Liberty and government control are diametrically opposed. That is one thing all of us Renewal agree upon.

"We are all pragmatists. One of the reasons little is known about us is that we have chosen not to publish a 'platform'. In fact, this business with the Program amounts to the biggest actual intervention we have attempted. Up to now, it has been mostly supporting sympathetic candidates and organizations and funding exposure of the most egregious abuses.