Family Ties

“Yeah, you said that already. A couple of times.”

“Sorry. I’m just nervous.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? I don’t want you to be scared or surprised or… break up with me.”

“You’re the strangest guy sometimes,” she said, more to herself than me.

To me she said, “Why would I do that?”

“Lots of people are pretty narrow-minded and judgmental. Not that you are,” I added quickly. “Just… lots of people. You’re a lot more open-minded than I thought. Still… being a nudist isn’t exactly normal. Although, let’s not get into what I think is normal.”

“Why? What do you think is normal?”

“The truth?”

“To thine own self be true,” she said with a turnabout smile.

“Right. Use my own words against me. Easiest way to win an argument.”

“I’m learning.”

“What do I think is normal?” I repeated. I decided to say the same thing I’d said to Sara. “Whatever makes you happy and doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Christy said.

“I don’t think so, but…” I shrugged. “Not everyone is so enlightened.”

“No.” She looked down and gathered her own courage. “Not everyone would understand about me and all my… um… quirks.”

“Exactly.”

“So, how long have you been a nudist?”

“Since I was twelve. My family spent every summer at camp until I was eighteen.”

“Why? What happened then?”

“College. And then my summers were full of other things. Working on houses with Trip, mostly. My family still went, though. And… so did I.

When I could.”

“Hold on…,” she said all of a sudden. “Did you go last summer?”

“Yeah, after we finished the houses in Atlanta. Why?”

“I knew it!” she said triumphantly.

“What?”

“Wren! She went too, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but—”

“She had this big blank spot between her last letter and when I first saw her—and you—again. She didn’t tell me about something. You remember when I first got here? I spent a week with Sayuri, waiting for you?”

“Yeah, of course. You were really cute too, stomping back and forth on the porch in your PJs and bunny slippers.”

“Thank you. I think. But I was pretty annoyed.”

“I actually thought of ‘high dudgeon’ when I first saw you. I never get to use that phrase, so I remember it.”

“That pretty much describes how I felt. But I was especially mad at Wren.

And when I asked where she’d been—where all of you had been—she wouldn’t tell me. Not at first. When I asked again she told me this crazy story about how it took you so long to find stuff for the house. A week? Yeah, right. But then you and I started fighting and I forgot all about it. Still, a lot makes sense now.” She thought back and nodded a couple of times. “I also wondered why her tan was so weird.”

“Weird? Weird how?”

“Her tan lines were different—some darker, some lighter—like she wore different parts of her bikini. Her top, hardly ever. Her bottoms most of the time, but then… sometimes not.”

“That’s exactly what she did.”

“Because she was at this nudist place.”

“Camp. Right.”

“Yeah, that’s totally like her. She’s almost as bad as you about taking her clothes off. I mean, it was all the time when we lived together. And she jumped at the chance to pose nude when I told her Siobhan needed someone.”

“Yeah, that’s Wren all right. She’s as much of an exhibitionist as I am.”

“So… about this nudist camp… where we’ll be staying…”

“You mean you’ll go?”

“Of course. I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s with you. But… I’m a little nervous. Will I have to take my clothes off?”

“Not if you don’t want to. Besides, it’s the middle of December. And no one will be there. No visitors, I mean. Only the people who live there year-round.”

“Will it be weird? With me there? Fully clothed?”

“I doubt it. Nudists aren’t the clothes police. We just want you to be comfortable.”

“What about you? Will you take yours off?”

“I guess it depends. Do you want me to?”

She blushed and studied her hands.

“Okay. Then I guess we’ll see. But we’re mostly using the camp as a motel, someplace to stay for free. But I didn’t want to surprise you with it.”

“Thank you.”

“And I sort of needed to tell you about me being a nudist anyway. I hadn’t planned on doing it now, but…” I spread my hands. “So… it doesn’t bother you?”

“That you’re a nudist?” She thought about it for an excruciatingly long time, which was probably ten seconds for real. “No, I don’t think so,” she said at last, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “I guess I kind of knew all along. I mean, you were always so comfortable when you posed in class. And even when you posed for the Replicant when it was just the two of us. Although…” She grinned. “Wren used to tell me what

happened when she teased you.”

“Yeah, well… I can’t help it if I react when an attractive girl teases me.”

“She is hard to resist.”

“You know it.”

She nodded and fell silent.

After a moment I said, “Thanks for going with me tomorrow.”

“Of course. I’m your girlfriend.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know about the nudist camp when you said you’d go.”

“It doesn’t really change anything. I mean, as long as I don’t have to take my clothes off.”

“You don’t,” I said quickly.