Chapter 8: Sky-Clad Swim Meet

Rebecca and her friends emerged from the change rooms that Friday morning to discover that many fellow students were queued up, holding copies of the Friday paper, showing the article on the front page of the Family section. Hugs and cheers and chants of "Go, go, SD go!" followed them from locker rooms to their classrooms. The publisher had sent over enough complementary copies for every student and teacher in the school.

Their first class was Social Studies with Mrs. Maxwell, who used the article to study how much the author "got right" and how much she "got wrong". Everyone concluded she seemed to get it right. It was a well-balanced article that painted an optimistic picture less of St. Dunstan's chances at the competition (which Ellen frankly admitted she wasn't qualified to judge) as of the impact of naturism on the attitude of the students involved.

While the report was popular at St. Dunstan's, and at the homes of the typical St. Dunstan's parent, it hit like a bombshell at the county School Board. After the umpteenth phone call from a Board member, Principal Hayworth called the Board Secretary, his own Director and Diane on conference call, and suggested a full board meeting for that evening — he and Diane could brief the whole lot there at once, rather than trying to do it piecemeal.

At Diane's insistence, they moved the meeting up to lunch, and changed the venue to St. Dunstan's, instead of the Board's offices downtown.

It was about halfway through first lunch. Linda had joined the girls' swim club members, and was playing catchup with her calorie consumption — she'd pulled Library Duty again. One of the senior girls dashed into the lunchroom, apologized to the teacher on duty, and shuffled as quickly as she could without actually breaking into a run to get to Rebecca.

"Becky, you're mom is here!" she reported breathlessly in a low voice. Rebecca didn't have to ask how this girl whose name she didn't know knew hers. Everyone seemed to know who Rebecca York was. When you were one of the infamous St. Dunstan's Skinny Dippers, everyone knew exactly who you were. "And there are tons of bigwigs. They're in with Hayseed right now."

"Is it about this?" Angela asked, pointing to the news article about their school.

"Gee, ya think?" Rebecca replied. "What else could it be? I bet someone didn't read any further than the headline, and is raising a stink. You know how 'textiles' get naturism all wrong at first." From her attitude, you'd have thought that Rebecca had been a naturist all her life instead of less than two weeks. "I hope Mom can really sell them on how OK it is. Otherwise, all our parents are in trouble." She thought for a second. "We should be there, right outside the door. What classroom are they in?"

"They've taken over Mrs. Maxwell's classroom," the girl replied.

Natalie looked around. "Where's the boys' team? They should be there too."

"They usually lunch in the yard," their messenger advised them. "I'll find them."

"Babs, can you run round to the staff room, and see if the coaches are there? If we can, I'd like them there too!"

Word quickly got around. Sixteen girls, sixteen boys, four teachers and a significant number of friends and fans, quickly filled up the hallway outside Mrs. Maxwell's classroom. It wasn't long before the door opened, but it seemed like forever.

Diane was first out of the door. Rebecca had a questioning look on her face and a thumb up. Diane flashed her daughter a big smile and nodded. The crowd relaxed noticeably.

The next out the door were the members of the School Board. The first, a portly man in his 50's, stopped at Rebecca, noting the interplay between her and her mother and their resemblance, and coming to the logical conclusion. "Is this your daughter, Mrs. York?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes indeed, Mr. Gregg, this is my daughter Rebecca. Rebecca, say hello to the Chairman of the School Board."

"Well, young lady, you should be proud of your mother, and I know she's proud of you. Do well at the swim meet on Monday! Best of luck!"

"Thank you, Mr. Gregg."

"Thank your mother, young lady. If you do half as well on Monday as she did in here today, you'll set speed records."

"Thank you, sir. Will we see you there?" Her mother looked ready to kick her.

"No," Mr. Gregg chuckled, "maybe later in the season. However I believe a couple of my colleagues may show up on Monday."

Courteously, Joe and Ginger introduced the remaining members of the swim teams and the Support Groups to the board members, as a chant of "Go, go, SD go!" started in the back. By the time the last of the introductions were finished, the crowded corridor was filled with chanting kids and staff.

"OK, OK, everybody, crisis averted!! See you at the rally this afternoon!!" Principal Hayworth announced, sending the kids back to class.

The rally was held in the school auditorium. As the Swim Club members were introduced and mounted the stage one by one, the crowd went into a frenzy of cheering, whistling and clapping. The Principal waved for silence.

"And one last word. We are all invited to Gymnos Middle School to witness our athletes in action. This is an official school event, so permission slips will have to be signed by your parents. As you know, Gymnos is a naturist environment, so should you go, you WILL be nude there. If you're not comfortable in the nude in a social setting, don't even bother picking up the form. Any students not going will have study hall here."