Fiction by Straber

Part 2 - Chapters 4-6

Chapter 4

I quickly came to appreciate how difficult this process was, that of actively controlling my sensation and perception abilities in order to fool both my mind and body into thinking that I was in an environment different from the one currently around me, if only just for an instant in time, before I recommenced true sensation and perception in the new environment. As far as I am concerned, it is a skill more difficult than any other learned action, whether physical or mental.

Sound tricky? It’s more than that. Flirting with the impossible is mind-boggling, and I definitely had as much trouble with the actual event as I did with grappling with the reality of it all. Oh, and about April – during the rest of that year, she and I developed a deeper kind of friendship than either of us had ever had before. There would be many exciting times, but some tense moments, too.

She and I eventually moved beyond simple bus and lunchroom chitchat to spending more time together, both alone and within various social circles. It certainly was a big learning experience for us both; after all, high school is all about getting a feel for what the real world might hold in store for us, so making a new, increasingly close friend was obviously a valuable thing to learn how to do. One interesting facet of our friendship was that although she was a bit more outgoing than I was, we both found that we had in common a keen sense of adventure and exploration, especially through our artistic endeavors – we quickly realized, for example how much energy we could bring to our still life paintings and attempts at clay sculpting through our constructive criticism of one another’s work. Communication for us just came so naturally.

* * *

In order to take a trip to my special place, I had to wait until I got home and finished my homework, before telling my parents that I would be taking a walk, and that I would be back in time for dinner. I wasn’t about to risk staying after school pretending to be working on projects with a group or even doing homework by myself, and then sneaking off to a deserted janitor’s closet or locker room and leaving the school and my clothes behind, voyaging into my fantastically real dream world. What if someone came looking for me, or what if someone walked into the very room I was leaving or already in the one to which I was returning?

I also wasn’t foolish enough to go to my room and shut my door, pretending to do homework there, but then going off to my place instead. See, even though I know my parents would respect my privacy, if there were some sort of emergency, or even some question or issue that needed my attention, and I wasn’t in my room, even though my clothes would be, trying to explain where I was to my parents would be very difficult, if not impossible. I just didn’t think it was right for anyone to know about this little secret of mine.

So I took my walks along a trail into the forest near my house, left the path, and stashed my clothes inside the hollow trunk of one of the bigger oaks and “teleported” – as I decided to call the process – to the sanctuary that was that beautiful countryside.

Over time, I learned to expand that new reality of mine, discovering that I was in a great valley, partially guarded by a small mountainous ridge, and that the stream eventually flowed into a big lake with a fairly large-sized island in the middle. There was a forest between the meadow hill and the lake, one whose floor was devoid of brush, twigs, and fallen leaves – there I walked only on soft earth. It was a vast sylvan cathedral, with the brilliant light of the sun streaking through the gaps between the branches, giving the wood a heavenly glow.

With more and more ease, I could get to this world, this valley, as I began to call it, through my imagination. I still was teleporting naked, as I wasn’t able to sense and perceive clothes on my body during the change of environments, but that didn’t bother me. April thought it was a little weird, but I knew she would be even more weirded out if she ever asked why I was so comfortable with being naked.

As fate would have it, that critical question came up earlier in the school year than I had expected, a few days into November. But actually, I suppose it was fortunate that she asked me early on in our friendship, or else by the time I had worked up the nerve to tell her, my secret probably would have been too much of a shock for her to want to continue to stay a close friend of mine. To be more precise, the subject of why being naked didn’t faze me came up in a conversation about my potential ability to share my new world with others, while April and I were in the public library going over some homework:

“Gary, do you think you could ever be able to take someone with you to the valley?” asked April curiously.

“I’d like to think so,” I replied. “I think I could do it if my companion were able to really channel his or her senses into a newly perceived environment, like I do when I teleport. I mean, if I can fool my mind into thinking that I’m seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling my companion, then I should be able to bring someone with me, out to that perfect mountain-guarded country valley, stream, and lake, as long as this person was trying to create that same world around himself or herself, too.”

“So something of a mutual teleportation?” pondered April.

“Exactly,” I said, curious to know where this was going. “Why, have you thought about the possibility of joining me?”

“Well…” she started, sounding apprehensive, “I don’t know. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the thought of really getting away from it all, to such a peaceful place, is very appealing. But I’m not too keen on the naked thing. And it would be really hard to explain where we had gone if someone were looking for us. Still, I guess we could think of some way to do it smartly, like you do when you tell your parents you’re going for a walk. So, really, I guess the naked thing is my only hang up.” Then she added, “It’s just that you’re not my brother," and after another short pause, said, "Come to think of it, I wouldn't even be comfortable being naked around my brother."

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean my family and I are pretty reserved when it comes to our nudity. Like, I’ve never seen my mom or dad walk around in anything less than a bathrobe, and my brother rarely leaves his hall bathroom with just a towel on. Even when he was little, I was hardly ever naked around him. I guess my parents were just never into the idea.”

“Trust me, April, being naked around other people doesn’t have to be difficult or intimidating at all.”

“What makes you say that, Gary?”

I got up and gestured for April to follow me outside so I could explain myself. “Well, it’s not something I have told anyone in a long time,” I said as we were nearing the exit, “but my family and I spend most of our weekends and usually all of the school breaks at a clothes-free resort not too far from here.”

Chapter 5

“A what?” she blurted out, clearly startled. The librarian at the circulation desk glared at us.

“A clothes-free resort,” I said again, holding the door open for her. “It’s my family’s home away from home – a gated community where the residents hardly ever wear clothes. It’s really great; there’s a pool, a hot tub, a gym…”

“You live in a nudist colony?” she said abruptly, interrupting my description as we approached a bench near the entrance.

“Well, we don’t use that label; actually, it’s really discouraged,” I said, sitting down and patiently taking a deep breath. “Too many bad connotations, based on misconceptions and stereotypes.” She sat down next to me and looked at me with an odd expression on her face; it looked like a mix of surprise, disappointment, and revulsion. “Please, April, don’t think badly of me now that you know why I’ve turned down working on projects and assignments with you on weekends. I’ll understand if you’re mad at me for keeping this from you – and please know I’m very sorry – but I would have told you at some point.” I said, pleading to her with my tone and facial expression.

“Nobody at school knows,” I continued. “So before you start jumping to any conclusions about me, please just promise me you won’t tell anyone else. I had a friend in elementary school that I told when my family was only visiting the campground occasionally, but when she told her parents, they wouldn’t let us get together anymore. April, I’ve already lost one friend over this issue, and I don’t want to lose you!” I begged.

“Gary, you’ve been a good friend to me,” she started, smiling kindly, as I anxiously waited for her reaction. “I promise not to tell anyone.”

“Thanks, April,” I said, quite relieved. “That means a lot to me, and it says a lot about our friendship. I really have been meaning to tell you.”

“No problem,” she said, resuming that puzzled look. “But I really can’t see why you would belong to a… a…”

“Clothes-free resort…” I said, helping finish the sentence. “But some people there refer to it as a nudist campground, and I guess that’s cool, too – it doesn’t sound as lofty that way. Still, we really don’t like the connotations that the phrase ‘nudist colony’ implies – making it sound like a place for free love, or just a silly place where only “beautiful” people romp around in the nude.”

“Right, right,” she said, still a bit flabbergasted. “So, uh, what’s it like? Is everyone naked all the time? What kind of people live there? Why do you do it?!” she asked quickly.

“Whoa, whoa… one at a time!” I said with a laugh.

“Heh, sorry. I’m just a little curious,” she said, smiling again. Then she laughed. “Actually, very curious!”

“I can understand that,” I said, glad that she was open to what I had to say. “Let me answer those questions, and others that I’m pretty sure you might ask,” I said, taking another deep, calming breath.

I told her about the wonderful experience that freedom from clothes brings – the warmth of the sun and the cool air on one’s body while being outdoors, completely nude with nothing between him and nature. I told her how great it felt not to have any clothes on, even underwear, because it all really encumbers the movement of one’s body as a whole. I told her how great it felt to jump in a pool or hot tub with no swimsuit on, with the water gently contacting every inch of one’s body. I told her about the joy and ease of being around others who shared in the clothes-free experience – how much more personal and open conversations and shared experiences felt.

I told her about the wholesome, non-sexual nature of social nudity. That the clothes-free lifestyle wasn’t about rampant sex or even heightened visual pleasure, but that it was simply about shedding the burdens of clothing – their cumbersome nature, their role in making distinctions of style and class, and their use as visual stimulation to intrigue one’s sexually-charged curiosity of the opposite sex – and getting back to the basics.

I told her how my parents raised me not to judge people by what they wore or, more importantly, what they looked like, but to try to get to know people based on who they were. I told her how I didn’t feel scared or in the dark about the changes that my body was still going through, and how I was taught about the beauty of the human body, no matter how it changed or what it looked like at different stages in one’s life.

I told her that men rarely get erections in nudist settings and that if they do, they simply excuse themselves or cover up. I told her that the women seemed to have much better body images than women in the “textile” world, as we called regular society at camp, that they were happy with their unique feminine forms and that they didn’t feel ugly having wrinkles or stretch marks. I told her that no one's body is perfect, not even supermodels’ bodies or athletes’, and that she certainly wouldn’t find any “perfect” bodies at the campground.

As I wrapped up, I tried to explain to her how wonderful it had been to have been raised in a clothes-free environment at home, free from the sexual tension and poor body image that clothes so often create in so many people who are wound up in the messages and images that commercials, entertainment, and the fashion industry try to push on society. Messages like the importance of having the best looking clothes and best looking body in order to be worth anything. I reiterated how great it felt to be absolutely free of all the pretenses and barriers that clothes can create.

“So, as you can see, April, being nude around others isn’t an issue for me,” I told her at the end of my little speech.

Chapter 6

“Wow, she said, leaning back in stunned silence. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I know it’s an awful lot to take in,” I said, trying to gauge her reaction.

“I'll say! But Gary, while all that sounds good and well-intentioned how do you reconcile… nudism, I guess you call it… with your faith?”

Because April and I are both Christians, and because I knew her family had moved to Oakwood because her father was hired as the new pastor of one of the town’s churches, I knew her faith was important to her, as mine is to me.

“Well, I’m no expert, but believe me when I say I’ve done a lot of reading, and even some of my own research,” I started off confidently. “You’d be surprised by just how many resources are out there for Christian nudists and people trying, like you said, to reconcile their faith with their desire to enjoy nude recreation. I don’t think I could do the arguments and articles justice without some of the material in my hands, so if you’d like to learn more about social nudism and also how the lifestyle is viewed by other Christians, those for it and against it, then I’ve got some great websites for you to visit and articles, testimonies, and Scripture research for you to read.”

“You know, Gary, I’d like that,” she said, smiling gratefully. “That way I can look it all over and then I’ll know more about what you believe and where you’re coming from.”

So I gave her all the resources I could find, even ordering a few books online for her. Over the next several days, she spent much of her free time reading the material and talking to me about the clothes-free lifestyle and my experience living it. A big problem that faced the both of us was whether or not she should share with her parents, especially her father, what she’d read, learned, and discovered about what I had originally presented.

“I’m just worried that my parents – and especially Dad – would flip out if they knew I’d been exploring social nude recreation,” said April apprehensively. “And even though I’ve been thinking that I'd like to visit your campground to see if it’s really like what all the testimonies and descriptions say it's like, I don’t think it would be a good idea to keep that visit a secret from my parents.”

“Is it a lifestyle that they know much about?”

“My dad has worked with sex addicts and pedophiles, so maybe he’s heard some of the arguments you brought up during that first conversation when you told me about the goodness of social nudity,” she said, still sounding worried.

There was a pause, and I brought up an idea I’d been thinking about for awhile.

“You know, there is a way for you to experience nude recreation without anyone knowing – not our friends, not anyone at my camp, and not even your parents…” I said, trailing off somewhat anxiously.

“You mean that I could teleport with you to your special place?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm. I don’t know, Gary. I just don’t think I would be comfortable having it be just the two of us. I mean, I know you wouldn’t have any ulterior motives, but…” she said, trailing off and sounding a bit embarrassed.

“Hey, that’s okay! I totally understand,” I said reassuringly. “I think I might be uncomfortable, too, if I were new to the idea of social nudity and someone suggested that we go to a very remote place and just take off our clothes and run around naked.”

April laughed. “Yes, that’s exactly how I feel!” she said with that great smile of hers.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. I have another idea,” I started, trying to sound mature and collected. “I know for a fact that it’s going to be rather warm with a clear sky tomorrow night. We could go out in the big meadow that's behind the library and out of sight from the road, bring a few blankets and maybe some water and snacks, walk up the small hill that’s there, and lie out under the stars.”

“In the nude?” she said, catching on to my idea.

“Well, I would certainly love to go nude, but only if you were comfortable with it. And I wouldn’t dream of pressuring you to go nude, either. But I’ll tell you right now that there really is nothing quite as special as lying out on a country hillside under a heavenly, starry night sky with no clothing between you and God’s marvelous creation. I’ve done it a few times myself, you see. And it will be dark, so you might feel more comfortable and less exposed if you wanted to go nude.” I paused to let the idea sink in.

“We would both have our cell phones,” I continued, “and if we told our parents we’d be stargazing after doing our research, then we wouldn’t have to worry about them coming to the library looking for us, only to find us gone and then start looking for us. If we were discovered together in the nude, well, that’s just a bridge we don’t want to have to cross.” She looked at me, a little perplexed, so I added, “Why don’t you look over what you’ve read, think about it, and definitely pray about it, too?”

“Sure,” she mused. “I will, definitely.”

The next day, after art class, April and I walked out into one of the courtyards during the fifteen-minute afternoon break to talk about the idea of spending an hour or so in that starlit meadow au natural, as April put it.

“I’ve already told my parents that you and I are going to study at the library tonight, since we need to find some actual books as sources. I mean, it’s certainly not a lie,” she told me.

“Okay!” I said, trying to downplay my excitement. “I’ll call my parents to let them know. And I brought two blankets with me just in case you said you’d come,” I said, smiling.

“I did too!” she exclaimed, and we both laughed.

“Maybe we could stop at the gas station for some granola bars,” I suggested.

“Sure, that sounds great.”

“Okay! I’ll meet you by the big rock outside the school after we get out.”

“Okay! See you then, Gary!” she said, smiling happily.

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