Submitting your vote... Letters : 7788 Words : 1470
There are a few more coming that she wants to edit
Friday, at school, none of the three of us could stay in place. Every time we spoke to each other, we were excited. Mindy couldn't wait to have two friends at her party, and Edith couldn't wait to tan her breasts. She didn't seem concerned at all that this sounded vain or not in sync with Mindy. As for me, I was nervous. I was pretending not to be a naturist, when in my heart, I was one.
At the end of the day, however, my parents picked me up.
"Sorry Kiddo", my mother says. "We'll drop you at Mindy, but we need to talk first", my mother explained to me.
Mindy was reassured that I might be there before her and if not, soon after, and both girls were on their way.
Once in the car, my mom gave me a gift box. I weighed it, as my father drive us for the resort.
"This isn't the bike bag we picked", I said, confused
"No, it's not. We had a better idea", says my dad
"But she really liked yours", I said
"I think she'll like this one better", says my mom
"What is it?"
"A wii. Our wii"
"Wait, you are giving her my wii? Why?"
My mom smiles. "Because we bought a WiiU"
I look at her
"What?"
My parents had said it was a stupid console and a waste a money, and they bought one?
"We saw you play with your friends, and well, we recalled how much fun we had with it. Plus, we sort of have an ulterior motive", my mother says
"Like what?"
"We want to play Wii sports with Clara and Peter. There. When we spend the weekend there and, well, it rains sometimes. But we can't really give them our Wii, well, your Wii, because they make less money than us and we want to avoid looking my giving them charity. So by technically making it a birthday gift, they can accept it"
"That's a great idea"
"Just tell Mindy that it's a gift for her family, but that we'll give her a personal gift when she sleeps over"
"The bike bag?", I ask
"The bike bag", says my mom.
"You guys are brilliant. But wait, the games?"
"The digital ones were moved to the Wii U, and the physical ones you like, along with an extra controller for Edith, are in your sleepover bag."
"Oh, nice", I say. "You really thought of everything"
"But seriously, you need to figure out how to tell Edith that you are a naturist, or it will blow in your face", says my mom.
"I know. I know. I just, well, couldn't trust her at first"
"And do you so, now?", my mother asked
"More. Tonight, I should know, and perhaps I can come clean", I say
"Naturism, for many, isn't just about nudity, it's also about honesty", says my father, as we enter the gate, after buzzing at the little speaker.
We find Mindy's house empty, and as such, we backtrack to the front gate to wait for her and Edith, all clothed.
It felt odd, and I realized that while I was protecting myself from gossip, I played against my interests. That wasn't cool. Cool people don't care what others think of them. That was me again being shy and not accepting who I was.
The three of us sat on a park bench in front of the administration building facing the entrance.
After a few minutes, my father excused himself and went inside for a few minutes.
"Edith seems nice", says my mother
"She doesn't have an easy life", I reply
"I could sense that. Mindy and you have the opportunity to make a difference in her life, you know? By being respectful, nice and positive"
"I know. Mindy likes her a lot. I sort of like her. She has a sort of, I don't know, positivity?"
"Well, if she comes from a broken family, it's possible she is alone a lot and having two friends is a plus. Just be careful to remain yourself. She might have learn bad habits, and Mindy and you would have to intervene with her, possibly at the risk of your friendship."
"Really?", I say
My mother sighs. "I talked to you a little about my father, but he wasn't easy. I learned a lot of bad habits from him, but my friends help me on a better path. Mindy and you have good parents, well, at least parents with good intentions. We make mistakes too, you know?"
I think.
Is that the hallmark of being a good parent? Doubting in your capacities so that you constantely try to do more? Well, today, I am convinced it is. Ask any shitty parent, including Edith's, and they will tell you they did everything they could. However, if you ask a good parent, they will express doubt about whether they did enough.
Sure, it's not 100% of it, but it's something.
My mother apologized for not trusting me with naturism as a kid.
And I thought, and decided to tell her, "Well, I am always shy, and I think my anger is that Mindy, who is a naturist, isn't. So perhaps I thought that naturism would make me more open, but see what I did with Edith. I didn't open up either"
"It's not a magic bullet, you know?"
"I do. I am sorry I was so angry"
"Well, you have hormonal problems, kiddo."
"Right", I say, sad.
"And something called being twelve", she says, smiling
"Sorry"
We stare at the gate. The bus doesn't take a direct route, and stops everywhere. In fact, Mindy is one of the last stops, so at least, when I took the bus to her home, almost no one said where she was dropped, but it meant a long commute to get out of the main part of the town.
For us, it's a direct road with a few stops once away from the school.
My father returns, all excited.
"What's up, honey?", my mother asks
"We are now officially members with a floating lot", he says
"Didn't we think it was stupid to pay for only what, a month and a half left?"
"Oh, we did. But that's the thing. The summer season is over, so I proposed to sign for next year right away, and get the rest of the year included for free"
"Really?", my mother says
"Hey, you know how I negotiate with our customers and suppliers", he says
"Right. And they agreed?"
"Yeah, but we can't leave our trailer here over the winter."
"We have the warehouse anyway", my mother says
"Perhaps, but we'll need a hitch on the car"
"Oh, right. We'll take an appointment for next week", my mother says.
"Let's go to Tony's. We helped him a lot with his rebuild project, we might get a good price"
"Speaking of price, are we good, you know, with paying right away?", she says, worried
"Oh, I only paid the $300 deposit. The balance will be in the spring"
"So we still have money from the thousand?"
"Well, I pay by credit card, but yeah."
My mother nods.
"Right, we almost forgot, the non-landed club, we were wrong, you can bring a friend, even if a minor, so Mindy can come with us"
"Wicked! I'll tell her"
"Perhaps after you tell Edith of your history with naturism?", says my mom
I look at my dad, who says. "Hey, don't look at me, I don't see why you need to tell her, but I am told it's a girl thing"
I smile.
We made plans to finish preparing the trailer so we could come over the next week-end. My parents also shared that they found a medical supply distributor interested in a meeting next week. That could help.
We were talking about it when Mindy and Edith arrived, all excited.
Mindy saw my gift box.
"Is that for me?"
"Well, it's a gift for your birthday, but it's for your whole family"
"Color me intrigued", she says.
"Do you girls need us until Mindy's parents arrive or will you be okay on your own?", says mother
"We'll be okay, Kylie, thank you", says Mindy.
"Wait, you can call her by her first name?", says Edith
"And you can too, Edith. And my husband is Steven. That's how we presented ourselves, you know?"
I looked at Edith. Yesterday, Mindy also called my parents by their first names, but it was when she was nude at supper. Maybe Edith didn't notice it then.
My parents wished us to have fun, and reminded us to call them when Edith wants to leave.
We thanked them and proceeded to Mindy's house, with Edith looking all over, but honestly, the place looked mostly deserted.