Last week (Summer 2000), a friend from school and I ran into each other totally unexpectedly out at the pasture in the country where I often go to sunbathe and hike nude. This is the same friend that I introduced to nudism last spring and that I wrote about back then (see ‘Discovering a Kindred Spirit’). Either one of us could have scared the wits out of the other one, but it didn’t work out that way. What a fun day it turned out to be! Here’s what all happened.

It was a hot, sunny summer afternoon on a Saturday. I had worked in the morning at my job as a lifeguard at the outdoor pool at the local community center and then did a few chores and errands afterwards that I needed to get caught up on. I had intentionally waited until after two o’clock when the sun would be a little less intense before I headed out for my run. Because it was so hot, I was taking it pretty easy, but I was still sweating buckets. I was following my out-of-town route that would take me out to the pasture where I sometimes go to be nude outdoors (I’ve written about this place before). It didn’t take long to convince myself that this would be a good day to take a break from running and stop off for some nude time out there.

I was thoroughly drenched with sweat by the time I reached the gate to the pasture. I climbed over the gate and ran the short distance to the trees along the creek that would get me out of sight from the road. Once there I immediately peeled everything off. It felt so good to be nude there in the shade, free of those wet, clingy clothes. It would have felt even better if there had been some breeze blowing, but there was none.

I picked up my things and headed farther into the pasture through the trees along the creek. Walking through there was really nice; mostly shady through grass that was not too high. Then I came to the more open, grassy part of the pasture and stepped out of the shade into the hot sun. I walked a little farther to another group of trees near a ravine that goes down to the creek and there I stashed my clothes out of sight. Now I was completely free as I headed on out on my nude hike across the pasture. I just can’t get enough of this. Even though it was so hot and I was still wet with sweat, it didn’t seem so bad at all now that there were no yucky wet clothes stuck to me.

When I reached the far side of the pasture, I turned and headed up a hill toward a single tree at the top. After the long climb, I just stood there in the shade of that tree for a few moments enjoying the view. I was still out of sight of any roads and houses. There was a little breeze up here and it sure felt good blowing over my entire sweaty body. After a while I continued on walking down the other side of the hill toward a ravine that was cut into the side of another hill. There were trees growing in and along this ravine. I’m always pretty careful about keeping an eye out for escape routes and hiding places just in the remote chance that someone should come along.

I reached the ravine and turned to walk down hill along side the trees there. The ravine gradually became less and less deep the farther down the hill I went. It eventually became a shallow gully before flattening out completely into the flat grassy pasture. I was having a great time just walking along and enjoying the great outdoors.

I was at the place where the ravine became only a gully when suddenly something through the trees caught my eye! I instantly froze. I was looking through the trees and out across the open grassy pasture into the main forested area beyond - the same place that I had come out of earlier. Was something moving over there or was I just being paranoid? After all, it was a long way over there and my eyes could be playing tricks on me. I moved into the near by trees and crouched down in the gully. Being down in this gully in the shadow of the trees would keep me out of sight but still let me see out across the pasture in the direction of the movement.

I felt kind of panicky but at the same time I knew I was well hidden. And besides that, I knew I had a couple of options for getting back to my clothes and getting the heck out of there if need be. I kept watching and waiting - watching and waiting. It wasn’t long before I knew for sure - there was definitely movement over there. But what was it? Was it the cattle? Was it a deer? No! It was a person – definitely a person. The question then became, was it only one? I could only see one, but I had to consider that there might be more.

I was feeling more panicky now, but I knew that I just needed to stay hidden where I was and wait and see what they did. Even if they came straight toward me, I could back track up the ravine and go over the top of the hill and around the other side and they would never see me. I had options; I had escape routes; no need to freak out. Just watch and wait. They were almost out in the open, but still a long ways away. Be patient. Stay calm. Just wait. Even though it was so hot, I could still feel that kind of cold chill up and down my neck and back that comes from being afraid.

Here they come – out of the trees. Whoa, wait a minute! It looked like this person was…no, it couldn’t be. And just then the person stepped out of the shade and into the bright sun and guess what. They were nude! It was a guy and there was a certain familiarity about him – his height and build, his walk. After just a few more seconds I was pretty sure that I knew him. I was almost certain that it was my friend, Jeff from school – the one that I introduced to nudism out here last spring. But wait, he had gone back to his hometown for the summer so if this was really him, what was he doing here now? He was still too far away for me to be absolutely certain so I continued to watch and wait. Better to be cautious and wait until he gets a little closer. He wasn’t walking exactly in my direction so it took a few minutes for him to get close enough for me to be sure.

Then soon enough, I became certain – it really was my friend. What a relief! I couldn’t believe it! What was he doing out here? There was only one way to find out. I moved out of the trees toward him but stayed low so that he wouldn’t see me until I would be completely out in the open. I didn’t want him to see unknown movement in the trees and panic like I did although it would certainly serve him right! He was so vulnerable out there in the open right now. Once out of the trees, I stood up and started walking toward him. We were still quite some distance apart and he didn’t see me at first. When he finally looked my way and saw me, he stopped dead in his tracks. I immediately gave him a big wave and he recognized me right away. He waved back and we started walking toward each other, faster now.

Once we had covered the distance between us and were close enough to talk, I smiled and exclaimed, "Jeff! Hi! What are you doing here?"

"It’s a long story," he smiled and said. "It’s so nice to be out here again…like this. I’ve really missed it. And you."

"Thanks. I’m glad to see you, too," I said. "But you scared me half to death!"

"Sorry about that," he said laughing. "You startled me for a second there, too." Then he added, "It’s so hot today, but when you’re nude like this it doesn’t seem so bad."

"I know," I said. "But still, look at us. We’re both dripping with sweat."

"I know – you’re glistening," he said, "Hey, come on. Let’s go exploring."

So we took off walking out across the pasture. For me, it was going back over areas that I’d already covered, but I didn’t care – it was so nice to have company again for a change. He told me that the reason he was back here unexpectedly was because he had been at another college in another town some distance from here for a three-day seminar. When it was over, he had then decided at the last minute to drive on over here for the day before going back home even though it was way out of the way. He was planning to head back home tonight. He said that the idea of spending the afternoon nude and carefree outdoors was just too much to resist. I told him that I knew the feeling.

He said that when he got to town, he had gone to the community center looking for me, but they said that I had already gone for the day so he had given up on finding me. I had never told him where I lived and we had never exchanged phone numbers. Then when he came on out here, he didn’t see my clothes in the hiding place we had used last spring, so he didn’t expect to see me at all. I explained to him that I was getting undressed closer to the road and then hiding my clothes out here closer to where I spent more of my time.

While we were walking, he told me that he had found a place kind of like this back home and had been hiking there nude a few times. But then he went on to say that the last time he had been there, he thought he might have been seen by the owner. He said that he was walking along the edge of a field and was surprised to suddenly see the owner driving his truck along on the other side of the field. He wasn’t sure if the owner had seen him or not since he was so far away, but thought he had better not go back for awhile. I told him not to go back at all and to find a new place.

Our walk took us to the farthest end of the pasture and then up along the hills like I had done earlier. He remarked about how much taller the grass was and how much thicker the trees seemed now that they were fully leafed out. Walking through the tall grass left a few grass seeds sticking to our sweaty legs. As we came to the ravine again, I showed him where I was when I first saw him and where I was hiding as I watched him cross the pasture.

He said, "Whew! I’m glad you weren’t a bad guy or something, because I would have been in big trouble right out there in the open like that."

I said, "I was out here once earlier this summer when the owner came to check on his cattle. His truck was really noisy and I could hear him slamming his door as he opened the gate. It took him awhile to open the gate, drive through and then stop to close it again. With all that warning, by then I was back in the deep trees over there near my clothes and I just watched him from there. He checked the cattle and gave them some feed or something and then turned around and drove back out. He never knew I was there."

"Yeah, this place is a lot safer than my place back home. I feel a lot more relaxed here and of course it’s nice to have company, too" he said.

"Yeah," I said. "It is nice to have company."

We hiked on up to the next hill and looked down on a pond. From there I showed him where the farmer had driven to check his cattle. We talked about how far out of the way someone would have to drive in order get a truck into the back section of the pasture where we were. It really does seem like a pretty safe spot we have out here.

Next, we walked on down to the pond and walked around it. No skinny-dipping though – it’s way too muddy and nasty and slimy from all the cattle drinking there and wading out into it. Not a pretty picture at all. Then we headed back into the trees and down to the creek and spent a lot of time down there crossing back and forth and climbing up the bank to explore the other side just to see what we could see.

We spent a couple of hours hiking and exploring before deciding to leave. We would have stayed longer, but we were both getting very thirsty because of the heat. We picked up my clothes and then started back toward the road and picked his clothes up when we got to the old hiding place.

I said, "There’s no need to get dressed yet. Now that the trees are fully leafed out, they will give us cover for a long ways yet. I always put off getting dressed as long as possible."

"Sounds good to me," he said. "Which way now?"

"Follow me," I replied. We had to walk single file through the trees because the trees and bushes were thicker here. We continued back toward the road enjoying the shade, but not enjoying the lack of breeze. This route took us across the creek a couple more times before we came to the spot that we needed to get dressed.

"It’s time," I said with a tone of dread in my voice as I unrolled my clothes.

"Do we have to?" he asked knowing the obvious answer.

"I wish we didn’t. This feels awful," I said as I was putting on my sweaty sports bra.

"I know," he said. "Guess I’d better get used to it though. It’s going to be a long trip home."

"Oh, you don’t have to go home like this," I said. "You can get cleaned up at my place."

"That would be great," he said. "Are you sure it’s OK?"

"Yeah, no problem," I said. "You can’t spend hours driving home like that."

By now we were dressed and walking the short distance from the trees to the gate.

"Where’s you car?" I asked.

"It’s back down the road a little ways," he said. "I didn’t want to attract any attention."

"Smart move," I said.

We walked down the road to his car, got in, and headed back to town. The air conditioner in his car sure felt good. We pulled up to my place a short while later. He grabbed some clean clothes and we headed up the stairs to my apartment. I retrieved my key from its hiding place, unlocked the door, and we went in.

"Well, this is it," I said. "Home sweet home. Come on – I’ll show where you can put your stuff and then we’ll get something to drink."

I showed him where he could hang his clothes on the closet door in my bedroom and the rest of his things went in the bathroom, which opens right off of the bedroom. My apartment is the upstairs of an older house, so the floor plan is a little strange. I was embarrassed at how messy my bedroom and bathroom were – I’d been busy and hadn’t made my bed or kept my things picked up for a day or two (OK, maybe three or four). But I wasn’t expecting visitors so soon.

"Make yourself at home," I said. "I’m going to." And I peeled off my sweaty clothes.

He got undressed, too, and we went back to the kitchen to get something to drink. Ice water was what we both needed and wanted. It seemed like we each drank a gallon of the stuff.

"This is a nice place you have," he said. "How long have you lived here?"

"About three years," I said. "It’s worked out really well."

"It must be nice having your own place," he said. "I assume you’re nude like this all the time?"

"All the time," I said. "It really is great. Except I can’t be nude with any of my other friends. They don’t know I’m a nudist and I doubt that they’d understand. You’re the only one."

"Same here," he replied. "I haven’t told anybody either. I can’t believe I ever brought it up with you."

"I’m glad you did," I said. "I probably never would have had the nerve to bring it up with you. Speaking of friends, I’m supposed to go out with two of my girlfriends this evening. Do you have time to join us for awhile before you have to head home? I’m sure they’d love to meet you."

"I don’t know," he said. "I can’t get too late of a start home. It’ll be really late by the time I get there as it is. I need to call my family and let them know of my change of plans."

"OK, how about this," I said. "We’re planning to get something to eat first thing before we do anything else. Why don’t you eat with us – then you can start for home. After all, I can’t send you off on an empty stomach."

"OK. That sounds like fun," he said. "Are you sure your friends won’t mind?"

"I’m sure," I answered as I jumped up to get the phone for him. "Call your family. I’m going to go get a towel for you so you can take a shower. I can’t send you home all sweaty and grimy either."

He called his family and then when he was done, he headed to the bathroom for a shower. Then I called one of the friends that I was going to meet that night.

"Hey, Shan," I said when she picked up the phone.

"Oh, hi Sunny. What’s up?" Shannon said.

"Listen, a friend of mine from school showed up from out of town today and I was wondering if you guys would mind if they joined us to eat this evening," I said.

Shannon said, "Sure, no problem. The more the merrier."

"OK," I said. "We’ll just meet you there. They have to head out early for home. Long trip."

"OK," Shannon replied. "We’ll see you there then."

"OK. See ya," I said and hung up.

I intentionally didn’t tell her that my friend was a guy because I knew that when they found out, they were going to have a great time at my expense kidding me about him being a "secret boyfriend" and stuff like that. We give each other all kinds of grief like that just for fun, so out of orneriness I left that part out. They would just assume that my friend was a girl and then when we showed up, the surprise would be on them. Score one for me! Besides, this would give them less time to come up with things to kid me about.

The original plan was for them to pick me up here at my place, but the last thing I needed was for them to show up and catch Jeff and I casually hanging out nude. That would be a little difficult to explain. They’ve both stopped by before once or twice unexpectedly and I’ve been nude, but they just assumed I was getting into or out of the shower or changing and I didn’t tell them otherwise.

Jeff was already in the shower by the time I finished talking to Shannon. It wasn’t long before I could hear him singing to himself in the shower (the door was open to keep it cooler). I laughed to myself – I thought this was kind of funny, but I didn’t say anything to him about it.

We finished our showers and while he used my hairdryer, I finished drying off and figured out what I was going to wear. Then I took my turn with the hairdryer and by the time I was finished I noticed that he was already dressed. As I fixed my hair and put on make-up and all that, I started telling him about my friends that we were going to be meeting pretty soon, Shannon and Julie. I told him that all three of us had played sports together in high school. Shannon and I were in the same class and have been good friends for a long time. She is on the quiet side, but still a lot of fun. She goes to college in another state and is back home for the summer. Julie was in the class behind us. She and I were great friends in high school, but then we kind of drifted apart when I started college and she was still in high school. Then she went to college in another town for her first year. But this fall she’ll be transferring back here to go to the same college I attend and we’ve been hanging out a lot this summer and have become close again – closer than ever. She is totally the opposite of Shannon and me – she’s a stark-raving extrovert. She talks all the time and tells you everything that’s on her mind. She’s really a lot of fun and jokes around all the time and keeps us all laughing. There’s never a dull moment when Julie is around.

"Your friends sound interesting," he said. "I just hope they don’t think that I’m trying to crash your evening or anything."

"They won’t think that," I said. "They’ll enjoy your company. Besides, you’ll probably see Julie on campus this fall, so it will be good for you and her to meet now."

"I need to warn you though," I continued. "My friends are big time kidders. We tease each other all the time about everything. When I told Shan that I was bringing a friend tonight, I didn’t tell her that you’re a guy. They’ll be expecting another girl so that will set them back some. All I’m saying is just don’t be surprised or embarrassed if they start kidding around about you and I being a couple and everything. It will be totally meant to embarrass me."

"That’s OK," he said. "I can take it. AND I can give it right back."

"Feel free," I said. "Nothing is sacred. You’ll fit right in."

As I got dressed, I told him a few stories about my friends and some of the funny tricks we had played on each other in the past just to give him more of a flavor of what the evening would be like. Then when I was finally ready, he drove us to the place we were going to eat. It was one of those informal, noisy kinds of places. I saw Shannon’s car as we pulled in, so I knew that she and Julie were already there.

As we were walking across the parking lot to the restaurant I reminded him, "Like I said before, my friends don’t know I’m a nudist, you know, and I haven’t told them because – well - I don’t know how they’d take it."

"I totally understand," he said. "Don’t worry. Your secret – or I guess it’s actually our secret – is safe with me."

"Thanks," I said. "Wish it didn’t have to be this way."

We walked in the door and I looked around for my friends. We all spotted each other at about the same time. They were already sitting at a table. The look on their faces was one of surprise at first when they saw Jeff with me, but then I could see the wheels in their minds starting to turn as they realized that I had tricked them by withholding information. I knew they would be thinking up all kinds of abuse to heap on me later.

We sat down and I introduced everybody all around. The conversation was nice and lively as they asked Jeff all of the usual questions (Where are you from? How do you like college here? All that stuff.). We placed our orders and munched on chips and salsa as we continued talking. Jeff was being very cool and friendly and was hitting it off really well with my friends.

The conversation hit a brief lull and apparently that was their cue because that’s when Julie and Shannon started in on me. Keep in mind that as the next part of the conversation unfolded, there were a couple of things going on. First of all, they knew full well that I wasn’t going out with Jeff, because we always tell each other who we go out with and everything about it. Second, my two girlfriends were putting on an act for the sole purpose of embarrassing me - they knew I knew it, but they thought I’d just have to put up with it because of Jeff. What they didn’t know was that I had already clued Jeff in on what to expect.

Shannon started it all by asking in a nonchalant, semi-serious sort of way, "So-o-o-o, how long have you two been going out?"

And then Julie (who never misses a cue) leaned forward in a sudden show of interest putting her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands and said in a coy sort of way, "Yes! Do tell us all about you two." She shrugged her shoulders and grinned at me. They were both trying to keep from cracking up.

Before I could say anything, Jeff came to my rescue and asked, "So who wants to know? And why?"

"Why…we do, of course," Julie said still in the same tone of voice. "We look out for Sunny, don’t we Shan?"

"That’s right," Shannon said.

"Sunny’s well-being is very important to us," Julie said followed by, "isn’t that right, Shan?"

"Oh, yes," Shannon answered, "very important."

"The three of us," Julie began, "we look out for each other. We’re inseparable!"

"Inseparable," echoed Shannon on the verge cracking up.

"Fact is," Julie said leaning forward even more and changing to a fake serious, but enthusiastic tone of voice, "Sunny likes for us to sort of – you know – screen her suitors for her."

"Screen my suitors? Oh, please!" I exclaimed in disbelief at Julie’s choice of words. She was in rare form tonight even for her. She and Shannon were both having a hard time trying not to crack up now and I was losing the battle in trying not to be embarrassed. I could feel my face turning red and I slumped back in my chair wishing I could just slump on down out of sight under the table.

"Well, I really don’t think any of our business is any of your business," Jeff said playing back against their little game quite well.

"Oh my!" Julie exclaimed in fake shock. "I don’t think we care for your attitude, do we Shan!"

"No! Not at all!" Shannon answered emphasizing each word in an attempt to maintain seriousness.

"No, we don’t approve of this at all…" Julie said and continued with, "…this little…arrangement!" And she totally lost it and cracked up as she said that last word which immediately set the rest of us off. Now Jeff knew that I wasn’t exaggerating with the things I had told him about my friends.

Soon our food came and we ate and talked some more. We were really having a good time. Jeff and Julie especially were really hitting it off well.

Then the meal was over and Jeff really needed to get going so we paid our check and headed out the door. I told Shannon and Julie that I was going to walk with him to his car and that I’d meet them back at Shannon’s car in a minute.

As Jeff and I walked across the parking lot to his car I said, "Well, I’m really glad you came over today. This was such a nice surprise. I had fun."

"Yeah, me too," he replied. "It was really nice spending the afternoon together in the country. There’s just nothing like it."

"That’s for sure," I said. "When will you be back?"

"Not until a few days before school starts," he said.

"Well, maybe we can spend some of those warm fall days out there when you come back," I suggested.

"That would be great," he said. "I’ll look forward to it." Then he continued, "Well, I’ve got to get going. It’s going to be so late by the time I get home."

"You drive carefully," I said. "If you get drowsy, stop and get a Coke or some coffee or something. Don’t risk falling asleep, OK?"

"OK. I’ll be careful," he said. "Good-bye."

"Bye," I said and then I gave him a hug. It’s always sad to say good-bye when you know it’ll be a long time before you see someone again.

With that he got in his car and waved and took off. He waved at Shannon and Julie as he drove by them (they waved back) and then he pulled out onto the highway and was gone.

I walked back to meet Shannon and Julie. And there they were, leaning on Shannon’s car just looking at me – like vultures just waiting to swoop in. They had been watching the whole time and I knew they were probably going to tease me the rest of the night about hugging Jeff.

"Oh! That was so sweet!" Shannon said in a fake dramatic kind of way.

"Touching," Julie said pretending to wipe a tear from her eye.

(See what I have to put up with!!!)

The rest of the night was a lot of fun. First we went to the mall for a little while. Then we wound up at a dance club where we ran into some more people we knew and we danced and joked around and had a great time the rest of the night. I love to dance!

Julie kept asking me questions about Jeff. She was really taken with him. He really is a great guy and I’m sure she’s hoping to see him again when he comes back to school. At one point in the evening she said, "If you call him or he calls you, tell him hi for me and be sure and tell me how he’s doing."

"I’m going to call him, all right," I replied, "just to warn him about you!"

That little remark earned me a good slap on the shoulder, but it was worth it just to get her back a little bit.

Well, there you have a typical day in the life of me – part of it spent in the nudist world and part of it in the regular world. I’m flexible and versatile and able to handle both just fine, but what bothers me is having to hide my nudist side from my non-nudist friends. My intentions are always to be open and honest with my friends, but I know that most of them just couldn’t handle it or accept it. I haven’t written about the time that I started to let one friend know about it – it wasn’t pretty and I vowed to proceed extremely cautiously from then on. Maybe that’s why the friendship between Jeff and I has a special sort of bond associated with it – no, nothing romantic – just a special trust because we share nudism only between the two of us. But I’m counting on the day coming when I’ll have lots of nudist friends to do things with. I’m not sure yet what action I’ll take to find them, but I’ll keep looking. Maybe I’ll develop some sort of a sixth sense about it. Jeff may have that sense – he found me after all.