Naturist Fiction Archive

Kristen Chapter #24: Almost Golden

Letters : 19763 Words : 3323

By: Nemo

End of the story, epiloge to How Kristen spent her summer vacation

“You look a little nervous, Kristen,” Richard said, stepping around to the front of his car.

Kristen forced a tight-lipped smile and nodded. “A little,” she said softly. She closed the passenger-side door quietly and moved up to stand beside Richard in the driveway. She was wearing the white tank-top and tan shorts she had worn down to the beach on Monday morning. “It’s an awesome house,” she said appreciatively.

Richard sighed. “You know, I’m starting to have some second thoughts about this whole thing,” he said. “You’re a really remarkable young woman, Kristen. I don’t want you to do anything that you’re not completely comfortable with.”

Kristen let out a nervous, high-pitched little laugh. It sounded almost like a hiccup.

“What’s so funny?” Richard asked.

“You know, if I’d been avoiding everything that made me uncomfortable, the past few days would have been awfully dull,” Kristen said, laughing. “I definitely never would have come back to Black Knife, that’s for sure.”

Richard smiled. “You’re running on adrenaline,” he said. “You know, if it weren’t for this one thing, I think you’d really like my sister. She’s a very bright and interesting person in general, but she’s just become obsessed with this anti-nudity thing.”

“Just a few days ago, I might have been on her side,” Kristen said. “Do you really think this might help change her mind?”

“I don’t know,” Richard said, staring at the ground. “When I started working at Black Knife ten years ago, she was so full of curiosity and a kind of enthusiasm. She asked a lot of questions—did people really go completely naked, and weren’t the girls embarrassed when a boy looked at them, and so on—and she seemed to find the whole thing really exciting. The beach was still clothes-optional back then, and I suggested that she come down and see for herself, but she never did.

“When they made nudity mandatory at the beach, she seemed even more interested. Several times she asked me when was a good time of day or a good day of the week to come down, and would a girl be safe all by herself, or should she come with friends, and did people undress on the beach or were there changing rooms—that kind of stuff—and I thought she was going to come down. But she never did.

“After the big confrontation with Tony, it was all over the newspapers that the Black Knife lifeguards would be working nude, and she started asking me about that. Did it feel good to be naked, was I embarrassed, that kind of thing.”

“Were you embarrassed?” Kristen asked.

“Not a bit,” Richard said. “I had been surrounded by naked people for so long that I actually felt relieved when I didn’t have to wear those stupid trunks anymore. I think all the lifeguards felt like intruders. The beach people and the lifeguards never really got to know each other. But when Lisa stripped off there in front of Tony and his gang, it was like a huge wave of fellowship swept up and engulfed us all. For the first time, the beach people and the lifeguards really felt like we were all on the same side.”

“Is that when your sister started to turn against nudity?” Kristen asked.

“No,” Richard said, shaking his head vigorously. “She loved it. And when I made all that money and bought my big house, she was fascinated by the swimming pool out back. She asked me if I swam in the nude. I said, ‘Always,’ and she seemed so delighted. She asked if she could have a pool party there with some of her friends, and I said sure. And then, joking, I said, ‘No swimsuits allowed,’ and she just laughed and laughed. She never had the pool party, but she would ask about it every now and then.”

“So what happened?” Kristen said. “What changed her?”

“I wish I knew,” Richard sighed. “About five years ago, she stopped talking about it. If the subject came up, she would say, ‘Can’t we talk about something else?’ Then about three years ago, she started going down tocomplain at city council meetings, and organizing the anti-nudity picket lines, and all that stuff.”

“But you still let her live in this great house?” Kristen asked.

“Oh, c’mon, Kristen,” Richard said. “She’s my sister. I’m not going to toss her out in the street.”

Kristen smiled and blushed. “You know, I should probably feel flattered. You were the second man to offer me a rent-free place to stay, so long as I don’t wear any clothes.”

“Now, you know that was never really a pre-condition,” Richard objected. “I never would have thought of it if you hadn’t told me about the other place.”

“I know,” Kristen said.

“My sister has a very strong personality,” Richard said. “Let’s be blunt—she’s a bit of a bully. I just thought this might help you assert your own rights. Otherwise you might have to fight for the right to undress in your own home.”

“It’s fine, Richard,” Kristen said. “It’s really weird, but I kind of like the idea of living someplace where I’m not even allowed to wear clothes.”

“I love being nude myself,” Richard said, “but I just don’t see the appeal of being forced into it.”

“Well, we’re all forced to go nude at the beach,” Kristen responded.

“That’s different,” Richard said. “All the beach people are there because they want to be, and everybody at the beach has to be naked, not just some people. I’m afraid you’re going to feel awfully lonely here.”

“Well, you own the house, right?” Kristen said. “Why don’t you just tell your sister and her roommate that they have to stay naked, too?”

“Oho, noooo!” Richard said, laughing. “No, no, no. That is definitely not the way to win them over.”

“Probably not,” Kristen said, smiling. She took a deep breath. “Well, I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be. Let’s see—your sister is Brenda, and her roommate is Marcie, right?”

“That’s right,” Richard said. “Marcie’s joined in on the picket lines before, but I don’t think she’s got the same kind of drive on this thing that Brenda does.”

“Well, listen,” Kristen said. “I’m not going to try to convince anybody of anything, okay? I’m not going to try to change anybody’s mind. I’m just going to live here. If that helps them to see things a little differently, that’s great.”

“That’s fine,” Richard said. “Let’s go up the back way, and I’ll show you the back yard and the pool before we go in.” He walked to the corner of the garage, and motioned for Kristen to follow.

Around the corner of the garage, wedged in between the garage wall and the thick cement retaining wall, was a steep stone staircase. Kristen followed Richard up the steps into the back yard of the house.

“See, here’s the pool,” Richard said, “and that’s the hot tub over there.” He indicated a glass structure with a sloped roof attached to the end of the house. “Now, this is a sort of combination greenhouse and solarium. If it’s too wet or chilly to come outside, you can still go into that room and get some sun.”

“Man, it must be nice to be rich,” Kristen gasped.

Richard smiled and nodded. “It’s alright,” he said. He stepped over onto a grassy little hillock. “Why don’t you come on over here. I’ve got something I’d like to show you.”

Kristen stepped over and stood next to Richard. “What is it?” she asked.

“Look right over there,” he said, pointing. “Between the big boulder and that hill in the distance. See it?”

“Omigosh,” Kristen said, with a delighted laugh. “I can see part of the beach from here!”

Richard laughed. “The old lady who owned this house before used to complain and complain about how she could see the naked hippies, ‘bold as day,’ from her back yard. But she’d have to be standing right on that little clump of dirt, and she’d need a telescope to see people on the beach any bigger than ants,” he said. “Some people go to an awful lot of trouble to find something to be offended by.”

Just then, the glass patio door slid open, and a tall, trim 25-year-old woman stepped through the door. “Oh, here you are,” she said angrily. “I thought I heard your car pull up. I was waiting at the front door. I thought you would at least have the decency to knock.”

“See what I mean?” Richard said, giving Kristen a sly smile. “And how are you today, Brenda? I was just showing Kristen around the place before she gets settled in. Kristen, I’d like you to meet my sister, Brenda.”

Kristen smiled and stepped forward to shake Brenda’s hand. Brenda glowered and snorted haughtily, and folded her arms across her chest.

Kristen thought that if it weren’t for the deep furrows of anger between her eyebrows, Brenda would be a very beautiful woman indeed. Her long, silky sand-colored hair fell well past her shoulders. She wore glasses with large lenses, that did nothing to mask the beauty of her face. She wore a very proper gray twill business suit, with a skirt that came to mid-knee, and a jacket with padded shoulders. She had a pale blue blouse with ruffles down the front. She was even wearing high-heeled businesswoman’s shoes, and nylon stockings with a seam down the back. The clothes looked strangely old-fashioned, Kristen thought, and certainly not very comfortable for casual wear at home.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Richard,” Brenda said, “but I’m not finding it very funny.”

“Well, good,” Richard said, very mildly. “Maybe you’re learning to tell when I’m not kidding. Let’s go inside, Kristen. I told Brenda that you get the master bedroom. There’s a great view from the window up there.”

A sort of pained grunt came from Brenda as Kristen and Richard approached the open patio door. Kristen looked at Richard, and silently mouthed the question, “Now?” Richard raised his eyebrows, gave a non-committal smile, and shrugged.

“This is gonna be nice,” Kristen said. With trembling hands, she quickly pulled her tank top off over her head. She had no bra underneath. Bare from the waist up, she stepped through the patio door into the large kitchen.

Brenda, her face purple with rage, was upon Kristen in an instant. “Now, listen to me, you little slut!” Brenda roared. “You are not going to be walking around half-naked in my house! Do you understand?”

“That’s enough!” Richard shouted, slamming his hand down on the kitchen table. Kristen saw that his face was red, and his hands were shaking violently, as if he were struggling to restrain his anger.

A fragile looking young woman appeared suddenly in the kitchen doorway. “What’s going on here?” she cried. When she saw Kristen, she stopped suddenly and blushed. “Oh, my!” she gasped.

Richard cleared his throat noisily. “Marcie,” he said, his voice sounding strained, “I’d like you to meet Kristen, your new housemate. She works with me down at Black Knife. She’s one of the lifeguards.”

Marcie, obviously embarrassed, smiled meekly and reached out to shake Kristen’s hand. “H—hi, Kristen. Nice to meet you,” she said. Brenda shot a murderous look at Marcie.

“Nice to meet you, too, Marcie,” Kristen said, smiling and shaking Marcie’s hand. Marcie was very petite, short and very thin, her dark brown hair cut in short bangs. She looked about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She, too, was dressed in business garb. She wore a short-sleeved white blouse, and a black skirt that reached only to the top of her knees. She, too, was wearing nylons or pantyhose, but without the visible seam of Brenda’s stockings, and she wore open-toed flat shoes instead of high heels. There was a waif-like look in Marcie’s eyes which made her seem extremely vulnerable. Kristen felt guilty for making Marcie feel embarrassed.

Brenda spoke slowly and fiercely, through clenched teeth. “Richard, I don’t care if you want to give a home to some stray alley cat. That’s your business. But I am not going to have this slut running around my house half-naked.”

Richard spoke very quietly, but there was no question that he was struggling to subdue his fury. “First of all, Brenda,” he said, “Kristen is a lifeguard. She’s a damn good one. And if you call her a slut again, I’ll kick your ass out in the street. I’m not joking.”

Brenda stiffened and shot an angry glance at Kristen.

“And of course I don’t need to remind you that this is not your house,” Richard continued. “It’s my house. I let you live here because you’re my sister. But I’ll tell you, family ties are wearing pretty damn thin right now.” He pointed to Kristen. “You are going to show this young woman some respect. Even if you have to fake it. Understand? I want you to apologize for calling her a slut.”

Brenda stiffened even more and let an angry hiss escape through her clenched teeth. She turned to Kristen and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. Her eyes were filled with blistering hatred. “I’m sorry, Kristen,” she said. “I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you,” Kristen said, barely audible.

“And one last thing,” Richard said, slowly mastering his anger. “I’m not doing Kristen a favor by letting her stay here. She’s doing a favor for me. Kristen?”

Kristen looked at Richard and raised her eyebrows. “R—right here?” she asked.

Richard smiled. “Might as well make yourself at home,” he said.

Kristen shrugged and kicked off her tennis shoes. Without socks, she stood barefoot on the cool tile floor. “That feels a lot better,” she said, smiling at Richard. She shot a quick glance at Marcie, who seemed to have calmed down considerably, then she undid the snap on her shorts and tugged them down to the floor. She wore no panties. She picked up her shorts and shoes, and stood, totally naked, in the center of the kitchen. “A lot better,” she said, with a nervous smile.

“It’s time for you to broaden your horizons a little, Brenda,” Richard said. “Kristen’s not going to be half-naked around the house. She’s going to be completely naked. I told her she could stay here on the condition she doesn’t wear any clothes, and she has graciously agreed to that.”

Brenda’s face was turning purple again. “This is sabotage!” she hissed. “How did you find out?”

“Find out? Find out what?” Richard asked.

“How did you find out I’m running for city council?” Brenda said angrily. “I—I’m going to have a lot of very important people coming through here over the next few months. Just how seriously do you think they’re going to take me with this—“ She caught the dangerous look in Richard’s eye just in time. “With this—this naked pixie prancing around?” She groaned and sank into one of the kitchen chairs.

Richard chuckled. He crouched so he was at Brenda’s eye level. “Tell them the truth,” he said softly. “Tell them your brother forced this naked housemate on you. I honestly didn’t know you were running. I wish you the best of luck, really.” He reached out and put his hand on Brenda’s. Now he spoke almost tenderly. “You know, if this anti-nudity thing is worth anything at all, it certainly ought to be able to withstand an encounter or two with a nice naked pixie. And if it can’t withstand that, then maybe you need to find another issue to run on.”

Brenda stared into her brother’s eyes. “You are such a creep,” she said softly. She patted him on the shoulder. “What are you going to do after I put Black Knife Beach out of business?”

Richard shrugged. “Who knows?” he said. “‘There’s a divinity which shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.’”

“You and George,” Kristen said. “You people are just too smart for me.”

Richard smiled and stood up again. “Oh, we’re not smart,” he said. “We’re just show-offs. Well, let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you your room.”

Kristen shot quick glances into the faces of Brenda and Marcie. She took a deep breath. “That’s okay, Richard,” she said. “I think Brenda and Marcie can show me the rest of the house. Right now, if it’s okay with you, I’d just like to get outside and catch a little bit more sun before it drops behind that hill over there.”

“Well, sure,” Richard said, puzzled.

Kristen set her clothes down on the kitchen floor, right up against the wall. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, ladies,” she said, opening the sliding glass door and stepping naked onto the patio. “C’mon, Richard,” she said as she brushed past him.

Richard followed Kristen to the little hillock that looked out on a sliver of Black Knife Beach. “I’m sorry, Kristen,” he said. “I had no idea that she was running for city council. This…”

“You know,” Kristen said, gazing into the distance, “in this light the beach looks almost golden.”

“I will definitely understand if you don’t want to go through with this,” Richard said. “And I promise, whatever it costs, I’ll find you a nice place near the beach, so don’t worry about that.”

Kristen looked at Richard and smiled broadly. “Richard, I’m not worried at all. This place is great. I think that Brenda and Marcie and I are going to get along just fine, after we get to know each other. You said yourself that sometimes a little understanding can turn an enemy into a friend.”

“Are you kidding?” Richard said. “You saw her pitch that fit, and you still think you can turn her into a friend?”

Kristen turned again to look at the golden beach in the distance. “Richard,” she said, “from where I’m standing, this looks like it’s going to be the best summer ever.”

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