nineteen to 22

Twenty

The scorching afternoon dissolved into a warm evening as Isla related her stories of notoriety. Finally Marion interrupted “I think it is time to start cooking dinner, you weren’t planning on going out?”

“Oh no” replied Isla who was a little concerned about visiting her old haunts now everyone she had ever known had seen her naked. She thought she would just die if she met her old headmistress in the street.

“It’ll be about half an hour, I’m sure you need to freshen up.”

This was Marion’s way of telling them both they smelt. Isla took the hint. Henri who had been smelling his stale sweat for a some time now was grateful of the opportunity for a shower.

“Right ho” replied Henri, “I’m afraid I haven’t brought anything smart.”

“Oh, no need to dress, we’re quite casual here.” Before Isla could comment her mother turned to her “Henri’s in the attic room”

“Dad!” complained Isla turning towards her father. She knew very well who to blame.

“I’m sorry about this” Isla told Henri as she led him up the stairs to the attic.

“Oh that’s alright, it’s their house. My parents were the same when my sister’s boyfriend came to stay.”

“Yes, but I’ll never be able to sneak up here without them hearing” complained Isla.

Henry grabbed her by the waist and kissed her. “We don’t have to restrict ourselves to night time manoeuvres” he whispered into her ear.

“Or indoors either” she told him, her breath felt hot his neck, “I know a spot in the wood that’s just perfect”

“Won’t that be hard on your back?” Henri suggested.

“Yes, but not on yours” She gave him a playful slap on the backside as crossed the room to the window. He looked dawn on the garden. It was like a medieval maze with bushes all over the place. Next door a woman in shorts and a skimpy pink top was watering some plants with a hose. She was tall and thin, wide at the hips, with long blonde hair. ‘The naked woman behind the green door’ thought Henri ‘maybe tomorrow when the sun is out..’ he’d keep an eye open.

“Who’d have thought it?” Isla muttered looking over his shoulder, “Linda wandering around naked?”

“You set the trend babe” he told her

“And I’m the best” she said as she removed her top.

“What are you doing, we’re expected downstairs in ten minutes” exclaimed Henri
“I’m taking a shower” replied Isla

“What if your parents come in?”

She laughed, they won’t it’s you room. They’ll hear the shower and think it’s you” she replied as she removed the rest of her clothes.

“Please Isla, I’ve only just got your dad onside”

She put her hand on her bare hip, and wiggled her waist, “Well if you don’t want to have a shower with me…”

“Oh come on babe, you know there is nothing I would like better, but this is not the place nor the time.”

She smiled, picked up her clothes and walked naked from the room, “I’ll just have to shower downstairs then.”

Henri cleaned himself up as quickly as he could, chose the cleanest clothes he could find and tiptoed downstairs. He was relieved to hear Isla singing in the shower as this enabled him to get downstairs without being dragged into her bedroom.

Isla had showered and was drying her hair when she remembered her mother’s comment.
“Oh, no need to dress, we’re quite casual here.”
As quickly as she could she dashed upstairs to warn Henri of what her mother meant went she had said dress was casual. But Henri had already gone. Isla sprinted down the stairs in the vein hope of catching him before he went into the kitchen and got the shock of his life.

Too late. Isla burst into the kitchen and there was Henri drinking beer with her father as her mother plated up the starter of prawns and smoked salmon. What ever Isla had been about to say died on her lips. Henri, Brain and Marion stood frozen in time and speechless. They were also, more to the point, fully dressed.

“Ah” said Isla backing towards the door, “Sorry, er slight misunderstanding of the word casual”

“There’s no air conditioning here” Marion told her. “Well there’s no point scurrying off now, after all, the entire world’s seen you naked. Sit down and eat your meal”

To Henri’s utter amazement Isla did just that. Having dinner with your girlfriend’s parents is always a difficult experience but to sit at the table making polite conversation while your girlfriend sits next to you stark naked made the experience a whole lot worse. Throughout the meal Brain and Marion kept asking him questions.

“What are you reading at University?”
“What do your parents do?”
“What was it like growing up in Milton?”
“Have you any brothers and sisters?”

And Henri would drag his thoughts away from Isla’s breast with its pert pink nipple and the small brown moles either side, not quite in a line. And when he could drag his eyes away from her breasts they treacherously dropped to her alabaster thighs that were firmly crossed. He gazed speechless at the small tufts of jet black pubic hair that poked up, like young seedlings desperately seeking the sunlight.

He tried to answer the questions lucidly but he could hear himself fumbling, his answers rambling and incoherent. It would be understandable had he never seen Isla naked, but of course he had, everyone’s eyes had roamed free over her bare flesh. Nobody had explored her body quite as thoroughly as Henri, who had been over every inch, as well as investigating a few crevasses. Even so her nakedness unsettled him; and it showed.

This nervousness endeared Henri to Marion and Brian. They would have expected most men his age to have sat there with their tongues hanging out. Henri stared, but who could blame him for that. It seemed, however, he gaze was of astonishment where others would have displayed lust. Of course neither of Isla’s parents were thinking rationally either. The mere appearance of their daughter in all her glory had unsettled them. Even Marion, who had threatened to do the same on many occasions herself, was shaken by her daughter’s complete lack of shame.

She needn’t have worried on that score. Isla was certainly feeling the shame; she just tried not to let it show. How could she have been so stupid? What could have possessed her? Looking back over the last few months, it was true, she had hardly ever seen her mother in clothing, but as far as she knew only she and her father were privy to their naked lifestyle. How could she have been so blind, she should have realised her parents would never be naked in front of Henri.

But the moving finger having writ moves on and there was no going back. She had turned up for dinner in her birthday suit. Running away would merely have compounded her guilt. Isla had considered making a pretence of being cold and run upstairs to dress, but it wasn’t cold and, after all, she had one of the most famous bodies in the world now. Everyone had seen it, so why hide.

“It’s so hot” she announced, “I don’t know how you can bare it being dressed”

Her mother looked daggers at her, “perhaps you would help me serve the main course Isla” she demanded, rather than asked, as she rose from the table like a mastodon from the primeval swamp.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at, Isla? Why are you naked?”

“I didn’t mean to come to dinner in the nude”

“It’s supposed to be a mistake?” asked her incredulous mother nearly dropping the steamed potatoes.

“I just forgot I was starkers that’s all”

“Oh what, so you spend so much time in the nuddy, you can’t remember if you’re wearing clothes or not!”

“Well just like you then” Isla replied, hackles beginning to rise.

“No not just like me, I remember to put some clothes on when we have some company”

“How was I supposed to know?”
“You seriously think I would greet your new boyfriend with just a smile?”

“Well clearly not, but how was I supposed to know?”

“What?”

“You said dress casual for dinner”

Marion waved her hands over her summer dress, “Yes, this is casual, for me”

“No it’s not” shouted Isla, “this is casual for you” waving her hands over her naked form.

Marion took her point. “Well you could have checked before you came barging in in your birthday suit”

“That’s exactly what I was trying to do, I came out of the shower and it suddenly hit me that you set casual, and by God mother when you usually say casual dress that means no dress at all”

A small cough broke into their argument. Brain stood at the doorway. “Er, we can hear you, you know”

That stopped them both, Marion looked at Isla “you better try and explain. Brain help me with his will you”

Henri was sitting bemused; he had heard the argument and witnessed the pain on Brain’s face. Isla slipped in and grabbed him by the hand and led him into the garden.

“I’m sorry about this hun” she told him.

“It’s cool” he replied, “Your family are nudists, it explains quite a lot about you”

“You don’t mind” she asked.

“No it’s fine” a cloud passed over Henri’s sunny face. “You don’t want me to join in to you?”

“Do you have a problem” An accusation rather than a question. Henri pondered for a moment

“No,” he appeared uncertain, then continued more confidently, “no I’ll be fine.” he deliberated again before asking “now?”

“No, not now I think it will take my parents a while to decide what to do”

“Oh right, you’re not planning on getting dressed are you”

Isla smiled and wiggled her hips suggestively. “I don’t know, what would you prefer”

“You know how much I admire your body” he told her with a lascivious smile. She smiled back.

“Nude it is then” she told him as he grinned, “but don’t get any ideas, there’ll be no night manoeuvres. You’ll just have to wait until morning” she told him firmly.

Several months ago Brian had enjoyed a meal due to the presence of his naked wife and also not enjoyed a meal due his bare daughter. Henri enjoyed the rest of the meal, who wouldn’t as he was sitting next to his girlfriend who was wearing a watch and a green wristband that identified her as a warrior of the environment. What preyed on his mind however was the looming presence of his girlfriend’s mother, who now she was outed as a nudist, may just join her daughter at the drop of a hat. Or in her case the drop of a summer dress.

“I’ve explained the situation to Henri and he understands” Isla told her parents.

“And what dear” began Marion as her husband looked on with all the futility of peasant charged with teaching a horse to sing, “have you told Henri”

“That we are nudists”

“Ah” replied Marion as Brian contemplated stabbing himself with his fork to test if this was a nightmare.

“Better out than in” she sighed. This was not a sentiment shared by her husband.

Henri felt he should say something “I did rather suspect, what with Isla’s penchant for strolling around naked.” The look on Brain’s face told him that his was probably not his finest contribution to the dinner table conversation. He’d already put his foot well and truly in it so Henri thought he might as well carry on. “So are you guys members of a club”

“Oh no” replied Marion “we’re not that type of nudist”

Brian winced at the sound of the N word.

“We’re just a trifle casual with our dress at home” Isla explained.

“And some of us outside as well!” put in Brian

“That’s a legitimate protest, dad” protested his daughter. But that was not what Brian was referring to.

“So what’s you position on nudity Henri” asked Marion in an attempt to steer the conversation away form her night time excursions.

“I’m easy” replied Henri, hoping this was vague enough. It was, so Isla decided to clear away any lasting confusion.

“Don’t worry, I’ve converted him, he’s fine with nudity now”
‘Please don’t say it’ Brian prayed fervently to himself.

“Well, in that case” said Marion, “maybe later in the week we can have that casual dinner, what do you say Isla”

Isla blushed all the way from her face to her pink puffy nipples

Henri just stared at Marion in her floral summer dress topped off with her best necklace. Would she be wearing just the pearls this time tomorrow he wondered, or would she be the complete nudist. His money was on the pearls.







Twenty one

The following morning Henri woke alone. Isla had been as good as her word and had not suddenly begun to sleepwalk. He read a book and listened to the sound of the house, the doors opening and closing, muffled conversations, the humming of hair driers. Finally the goodbyes of first Brian, and then Marion as they left for work. Henri laid down his book and waited for Isla. After a full fantasy laden quarter of an hour where Henri imaged all sorts of wild sex, he began to think that she wasn’t going to come. Perhaps she was waiting for him. Mindful that this was not his house Henri dressed in an old shirt and a pair of frankly disgusting shorts, and as quietly as he could descended the stairs to Isla’s room. It was empty. That was an exaggeration, it was actually stuffed full of cuddly toys, there were clothes everywhere, the dressing table was invisible under a pile of make up, hair starighteners, hair drier. What it lacked was the architect of this mess: Henri decided to widen his search.

He finally tracked Isla down to the kitchen where she lounged in a comfortable chair with the morning paper covering her modesty. She looked critically at her lover, “Why are you wearing those clothes”

“I didn’t know if your parents would still be here.”

“Well they’re not so you can get them off” Henri dutifully did as he was told. Isla sniffed the air. “And you haven’t had a shower”

“Well, I was only wondering if you were up, now I know, I’ll….” He wasn’t allowed to go any further.

“Oh you’re here now, what do you want for breakfast?”

“You” replied Henri with a big grin.

“You can have me later” Isla gave him a sly look, “first something to eat, you need to keep your strength up!”

He smiled as he sat down on the chair and settled back to watch the show. His eyes wandered freely over her bare flesh. The curve of her calves, the tiny tufts of hair that poked through the back of her thighs. She caught him staring and smiled as she sat opposite him, her small breasts brushing the table.

“Did you enjoy last night?” she asked licking her lips suggestively.

“Yes, I was a bit worried, but your parents seemed very nice”

“That’s not what I meant” she said firmly. “Did you enjoy looking at me, in all my glory?”

“You know I love to watch your body” he replied watching her rounded buttocks as she bent over to put the dirty plates in the dishwasher, “did you enjoy it, being the only one naked?”

Isla smiled as she stood; hand on one hip, the bright light from the window sparking in her eyes. “I wouldn’t be the only one in the buff now……. if my mother got back early.”
Henri panicked, and then caught himself. It’s not often a young man could give a plausible explanation for being found naked in his host’s kitchen, with the host’s naked daughter. If Marion walked in now he could brazenly shake her hand with no more said, provided he remained seated. Should he stand there would be than his right hand outstretched.

Isla drifted around the kitchen like a dream, clearing the rest of the dishes. Then with a flourish she pulled away the white line table cloth that Henri had been using as a hide. Isla grinned mischievously, placed her finger in her mouth and started to suck on it. She looked over the edge of the table to observe the result.

“I think it’s playtime” she said with a grin.
Henri got up and grabbed hand, pulling her towards the door. Isla pulled back.

“No here” she told him pushing herself up onto the table, legs open. She shivered briefly as she lay back on the smooth polished wood.

One minute later following a series of groans and high pitched squeaks, both Henri and Isla got the message. The table wasn’t up for it. They however were, so with all their bits bouncing, and giggling manically in anticipation they raced each other up the stairs to the more receptive bed in the attic room.

Two hours later they were woken by the sound of the telephone. Isla dashed down to her bedroom. She returned in animated conversation.

“Yes of course I’ll sponsor you”

“What’s it for?”

To Henri’s ears the voice in Isla’s earphone sounded like an angry hornet.

“What do you have to do?”

Or perhaps a bee, flitting from flower, to summer flower.

“You’re going to do what? This I have to see”

The bee buzzed and buzzed for at least a minute.

“Is that all?” Isla replied condescendingly before ending the call with “One thirty, Marlborough Arms, see you there Alice”

“Who was that?” asked Henri

“My old school friend”

“I take it we’re going out”

“Indeed we are; mind if I use the shower here?”

“Be my guest, mind if I join you?”

They were nearly late for the old school reunion.

There was no naked dinner with Isla and her parents that evening. It was well past one in the morning when the two of them staggered drunkenly into the house. With theatrical whispers they staggered up the stairs. Isla bade Henri a cheery goodnight and closed her bedroom door from the outside. Barely surpassing her laughter she followed Henri as quietly as she could in her inebriated state up the stairs to the attic room.

It was a poor deception which only half worked. It fooled Brain for the simple reason he was fast asleep. Unfortunately for Isla her mother was wide awake and knew precisely what was going on. On the plus side Marion didn’t really care. When she was Isla’s age, she was already pregnant, so there was no point in trying to take the moral high ground. In fact Marion was pleased her daughter was otherwise engaged as she had a little excursion of her own planned. As the sounds of muffled passion leaked down the stairwell, Marion slipped as silently as Isla had thought she was from the bed and tiptoed downstairs and out into the silent midsummer night.

Henri woke at some ungodly hour with a pain in his bladder. He knew it was early as it was not yet dawn. He fumbled his way towards the bathroom and relieved himself. Still half drunk he fell back into the bed which complained at this rough handling.

“Ouch,” moaned Isla, “did you have to dig me in the ribs” she pushed him away and, completely disorientated he fell onto the floor, where he sat awkwardly rubbing his head. “Quiet will you, do you want to wake my parents?”

“You pushed me out” he whispered, his voice rich with injustice.

“I’d better be going” she whispered giving him a mohito flavoured kiss, “where are my clothes?”

“You took them off before we got here”

“Oh right,” she said, stopping suddenly. “Henri, come here a minute”

Ever eager, he was by her side, fondling her bare behind. “Stop that” she demanded as she pointed out of the window “look there”

“Where?”

“There, in the lane behind the fence”

“There’s someone out there” Henri gulped “I swear they haven’t got any clothes on”

The bare form flitted into the shadows and was gone. Moments later a flash of flesh crossed a patch of moonlit ground. It was only a glimpse, but that was enough to confirm to both of them that the naked form was female.

“Did you recognize her” asked Henri

“Too far away.”

But their minds were as one. They’d been told two days ago and they hadn’t forgotten.

“That kid was telling the truth”

“So Linda’s the naked angel” whispered Isla

“The what?”

Isla told Henri the story of the cook, his stroke, and his mythical rescuer.

“Wow” was all he could say

“The question now is what shall we do? Julie Lewis has been hunting this story since it broke, she’d love to know who it was. Should we tell her?”

Before Henri could reply the click of a bedroom door echoed through the house.

“Damn” whispered Isla who shot out of the room.

Henri listened intently but nothing further disturbed the quiet of the very early morning in Belvoir Avenue. He returned to the window, but the lane now was empty. Presently he went back to bed and fell asleep. As usual he dreamt of naked women.

Twenty two

The catch, when it came, was sudden and unexpected. Henri and Isla were enjoying a leisurely late morning drink on the sun drenched patio. Henri was as observant as a bird, attentive to every sound from the other side of the hedge where the mysterious naked neighbour, Linda, lived. He stared constantly at the thick privet, desperately trying to see through it. The slightest indication of a presence drove him to his feet, pacing the patio looking for the smallest sliver of bare flesh through the green. It was during one of these excursions that he was taken by surprise, like a harvest mouse caught in the open hearing the sudden screech of the tawny owl.

“It’s nice out isn’t it?” said Marion in a cheerful voice. As his trousers were still up in his bedroom Henri was not able to put it back in again. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. Fortunately neither Isla nor her mother seemed to notice let alone care.

“You’re back early, Mum”

Henri gulped, all he wanted was to be reunited with his clothes, but Marion was blocking the door, and now she seemed happy to chat. “I’m soaked with sweat,” she complained, that advertising agency had the air con off”

“Well that’s good” commented Isla at her most saintly.

“Well yes, if you’re dressed for it. The place was colder than an Alaskan dog kennel yesterday. I’m going to slip into something more casual” As she disappeared into the cool dark interior Henri came out of the blocks faster than an Olympic sprinter who had sat on a porcupine.

“Whoa, big boy, where do you think you’re going?” asked Isla.

“I’m going to get my clothes before your mother gets back.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t sit her in the buff talking to her, it’s bad enough she caught me in the nude”

“And where do you think she has gone?”

“She’s diplomatically got out of the way so I can go and get dressed.”

“Exactly the opposite” said Isla.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Then Henri understood what it meant “Oh, er, right”

And suddenly with the words “Well that’s better” Marion was there. Henri realised he had never seen anyone of that age naked before. He had once walked into the bathroom at home while his mother was in the shower, but had managed to beat a hasty retreat before he could catch a glimpse of flesh. Bizarrely he had been more worried than her. In fact she had found it quite amusing and teased him remorselessly in front of his sisters who also found it amusing until one of them had a thought. In Henri’s experience thought and his sisters’ minds occupied separate universes, but somehow an idea managed to bridge the gap and settle momentarily in Annie’s cerebrum.

“Oh my God,” she squealed, “what if it had been me, I’d have just died”

“No you wouldn’t Annie.” Replied their mother “Do you think you’ve got anything different under those clothes? We’re all the same, do you want to see mine and compare private bits?” She started to unbutton her blouse. This brought on a storm of protest from both his sisters while Henri looked at his shoes. Their mother stopped and smiled “There’s nothing wrong with nudity, as you’ll find out one day”

Well this was Henri’s day alright. Despite the teasing he had seen nothing of his mother’s body. The mere outline of her flesh though the translucent shower curtain had been enough to send him flying to his room. He would have the done the same now but for Isla. So here he sat, trapped with his naked girlfriend and her equally naked mother. He had expected Marion’s body to wrinkled, like an old dry leaf with only the memory of the summer that had gone. He was pleasantly surprised to find quite the opposite. Her skin was as smooth as her daughter’s although it had to be said there was somewhat more of Marion than Isla. What would his mother and sisters say now he wondered? This was more than an idle daydream, they knew he was dating one of the most famous nudes on the planet. He had told his mother just before the protests began, as he had expected countrywide television coverage to show him standing on the sidelines. His family had followed Isla’s progress with interest. To his twin sister Amelie she was a green heroine, someone to be looked up to , but perhaps not followed. His elder sister Annie though it all disgusting. His parents position was ambiguous, the only comment had come from his mother, who after seeing Isla parading stark naked around the Sapphire Shopping Mall told him “She looks nice dear”

What they would make of her in the flesh? He’d find out soon as in a weeks time they were going north to meet his folks. He just hoped that meeting Isla in the flesh didn’t mean just that. Could she keep her clothes on for a week? He fervently hoped she would, but deep down he knew there would an unveiling at some point. Then what would happen, would Amelie emulate her heroine, would their mother carry out the threat she had dangled before them all those years ago. One thing was certain, Annie would walk out.

“So how was work” Isla broke into his reverie

“Like I said hot” replied her mother “and its all you fault”

“How’s it my fault”

“Well there’s an advertising campaign for the “Air con con” at the mall and they’re making a bid”

“So”

“So they have switched the air con off to impress the clients”
“Oh well” said Isla haughtily from her vantage point on the moral high ground “they could always go naked, like our slogan says”