Chapter 186

April 19, 2018 (Thursday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

We skipped rondo for a long scrimmage that began as Argon versus Krypton, but Coach made a lot of switches of personnel during the game, which lasted over an hour. She was obviously trying to get some of the Argon team comfortable with filling in for particular members of Krypton. She had Padme at various times filling the Krypton front-line wing slots. She developed a lot last season as a strong offensive force, she has very good ball-handling skills; she can even play the sweeper position if Coach decides to go with one next year. Coach seems to be grooming Padme, teaching her in preparation for next year, in which she’ll play a critical part in the team’s O along with Civia and Tonda. It seemed obvious to me that Coach wanted Padme to have experience playing with some superb linemates; she even bagged a goal with a nice outside-right shot.

Coach called an end to practice a little early, so we managed to be communally showered -- Brett showered upstairs as, typical of Thursdays, Civia and Maren were with us – and in the W before any of our guests/friends arrived. Like last night, Rachel, who is still with us, opted not to take part as she did not feel it right to do so if she were not committed to us. Perhaps more importantly, Kath arrived shortly before 6:00 after she had sent a text earlier, so we were able to direct her straight to the W.

I walked her into the kitchen and announced, “Go5 parents, although you may know who this is, the situation of seeing her here may cause you some confusion. I’d like to formally introduce Kath Weeks, Katie’s mom and owner of The Cold Sweets. Kath has agreed to be our house mom, which enables Celeste to shed those duties that we younger girls never forced her to perform. Hopefully, we can remain sane and responsible, and not force Kath to put her foot down.”

Sandy was the first to Kath, saying, “Welcome. You should be aware ... Kath, that this is the first we’ve heard of this ... change in house duties.”

“I wondered. While I had a few reasons to accept their offer, one of them is that I discovered that I missed Katie not rattling around our house all the time. I’m ... we’re not sure what we’ll do with that house, but we own it clear, so we have time to decide. I’ve always liked your girls, and that was before Katie figured out who Rhee was despite, at the time, her wearing ... uh ... quite a skimpy outfit. Having their names to use when they visited the store was something of an ice-breaker such that we’ve had actual conversations in the store. Katie moving in across the yard, there, encouraged even more conversation and we became friends. So, while I know each of your names, I can put names on Gracey’s and Liya’s mothers only by their obvious ethnicity, one Mexican, one Indian, and I now see whence those two girls got their good looks.”

Not surprisingly, Kath was a hit, and the four Moms occupied her time until the other parents began arriving around 6:15. Unlike other times when they arrived, I hugged both Steph and Matt, after which Lana flashed her eyes at me, then grinned.

She whispered, “I wonder if Char and Kim will get to the hugging stage with them after spending the night tonight?”

Quietly, I responded, “That would probably require something like what happened with us Tuesday morning, and without an in-service, it’s hard to imagine that happening.”

“True.”

“But once girls get to spend a weekend night there ... Who knows? And I didn’t hear which of us have Sunday and Monday nights.”

“Cera and Celeste ... and isn’t that an interesting pairing ... on Sunday, and Heather and Katie on Monday. I still find it ... unreal that Steph and Matt are fine with Brett and me bringing our girlfriends home for the night when we’re only 15!”

“Hey. Look around. All the parents here are like that, but I do know what you mean.”

The evening was not quite as nice as last Thursday – and it was forecast to be getting cooler through the evening, so Carol had turned the hot tub’s heater on this morning. Also, despite that a hot tub soak was not an every Thursday thing, the vote was unanimous tonight, so after another enjoyable dinner, the 30 of us adjourned to the tub after dinner cleanup. Also as per usual, most of us spent the first five or so minutes after entering the tub just enjoying the water. There were no differences in tubwear relative to the last couple of weeks, except that Kath was here for the first time.

Emma remarked, “That’s a ... sexy bikini, Kath, and I don’t mean the comment in a snarky fashion. I mean it in a fashion of ‘you really rock that bikini, Girl.’”

Steph chimed in, “I agree. I’m just a little jealous because I’m not sure I could wear something like that in this sort of situation. However, I’m becoming ... not quite comfortable, yet, but accepting of the outfits these girls wear regularly. And I thank you for wearing that bikini, Kath, as it allows me to bring that very subject up with ... our group here. Before that, however, I just want to say that I’m truly enjoying these get-togethers, and I thank the Williams clan for proposing the idea and hosting the events. This has become the highlight of my week, many weeks, and it’s not the highlight because the rest of my life is so poor, either. It’s because I very much enjoy getting to know this gaggle of girls and some of their parents.”

After some head nods and vocal agreement, Steph continued, “I’m curious about two aspects of the clothes that most of the girls wear in situations other than school and soccer and more-formal things like that. The first is where and how wearing skimpy outfits got started and, perhaps more importantly, how the other parents see that. Do you have concerns? Qualms?”

Kalina stepped in immediately, stating, “I wanted to ask something related, so I wanted to get that out there before the conversation that will certainly break out gets so sidetracked into other topics that I forget to ask my question.”

Alicia replied, “Duly noted, and I wonder if I have the same question, so I’ll certainly try to help you bring us back around to your question, Kalina. I also want to agree with Steph’s point about Thursday evenings. Richard and I are so glad you invited us to take part. Thank you. I’d ask about some of the missing parents, but the hot tub is approaching capacity with the 30 of us, so...”

When Alicia grinned around the hot tub, she received grins in return at which Richard, put his right arm around Alicia and stated, “And that goes for the male half of us, too. We were ... taken a little bit by surprise when Cera became so quickly attached to an entirely new set of friends. We understand that that happens in changing schools. It certainly did for me going from middle school to high school, but Cera’s experience seemed ... more dramatic. Fortunately, she’s much happier than she was last year at this time, and she’s always been reasonably happy. Sorry for the sidetrack, but I wanted to get that out there, being ... something like the only stepparent here, although I acknowledge that that facet is involved in the ... unusual marriage resident here.”

I took the following silence to answer Steph, “It began with Rhee and me. She and I were spending alone time in our respective rooms naked, by choice, before we met shortly before we both turned nine, and we continued that together when we became great friends. The Go4, that is, Rhee, Gracey, Liya, and me, have been good friends for almost four years. Last year, we added Heather and she was something like the ... impetus, although probably not intentionally, for what we became. Apparently, we awakened something in her that expressed itself in nudity, at least when we were upstairs in this house. She understood that she couldn’t do that, be naked, outside the confines of the second floor, so she compromised, and skimpy clothing was that compromise. The rest of us followed suit, and here we are now, spending time in public in skimpy clothing and being comfortable with it. And you need to understand that when we accidentally introduced the concept of spending time together naked to Gracey and Liya, they had to catch up with us in the process of becoming comfortable being naked with us. I doubt I could have gotten that comfortable that quickly from a standing start as they did.”

I suspected it would happen, so I was unsurprised when Kalina took the opening I had given her.

“I can’t pass that up, as what Beth said deals precisely with my question. The background, which Beth suggested in her words though did not state explicitly, is that they spend a lot of time nude. During one of our two-family dinners, Civia and Maren, Civia being the primary explainer, told us that the Go5 told Civia the first day she spent time here that they spent their time upstairs ... and everywhere in the house when no parents were home ... naked. Civia said that it was nothing like rebellion, but obviously that that was simply their preferred mode of dress when possible. She told us that she quickly became used to their dress code, then quickly came to enjoy it. She specifically said that the freedom was what she liked most. She told us that since that time, if she was in her room with her door closed, she was naked. When she and Maren began spending a lot of time together, at either or both of our houses, she introduced her new friend to general nudity, and Maren, although apparently unsure at first, has come to enjoy it as much as Civia. They tell us that even when they sleep together in the same bed, whether just Civia and Maren or with the whole crowd at the J house, they sleep nude.

“Jeff and I were concerned, but both girls insisted that none of the other girls had ever made an inappropriate suggestion or made anything like sexual contact. We tried very hard to be non-judgmental, an effort we found to be easier when she summarized everything by saying something along the lines of...”

Civia interrupted, saying, “Those girls must like me a lot to be willing to live and sleep with me while none of us are wearing clothes. And everyone needs also to understand that, before these girls, I didn’t really have any friends. Those girls hug me ... and Maren ... while we’re all naked, but there’s never been anything that I’d think of as ... sexual. When Brett’s there, too, we’re all clothed ... in some fashion. As Steph said, the girls might be wearing skimpy clothing, but as Beth says, all the naughty bits are covered. I love them, and they love me, but it’s not sexual.”

Silence reigned for a while. I considered responding but decided that it was best not to do so, at least for the nonce. I was surprised that Nira responded.

“We ... the Go5 parents ... are perfectly fine with the girls living naked. Of course, we’d have no right to object, as the five of us are generally nude here. The girls let us know when any of them are coming over, and we do the same for them. The truly critical point that makes it work for us parents and, probably, for the girls, too, is that all of us and each of us agree to the clothing-optional policy. I know that that’s true for us and, from what the girls have said, it’s true in the J, but I’ll let one or more of them vouchsafe that.”

Celeste responded immediately, “It’s true for us. We all enjoy the ... freedom that Civia mentioned. I don’t know how typical our situation is, but I doubt it’s typical at all, as the situation requires care and trust, and those are features we’ve all developed in each other over the past four months. I love all of them and all of them love me and this is absolutely the most enjoyable and pleasant living situation in which I’ve ever been involved.”

Carol asked, “Kalina, Jeff, and Emma what was your ultimate response to Civia and Maren’s ... surprising announcement?”

Jeff replied, “We haven’t given them one, as we wanted to wait until after this evening and the discussion that we hoped for here and which has taken place ... or is taking place.”

Richard responded, “I know that ... girls are different from boys in ... how they see things, how they view the world. I grew up with an older sister, and she and her friends often had sleepovers in which the two or three of them would sleep in the same bed. My friends and I would never have dreamt of doing such. Whether that’s because girls and boys are truly different from each other or that we impart to them or impose on them different belief systems, different attitudes, I don’t know. However, it doesn’t really matter how we got where we are, we live in a society that expects girls to be very different from boys, and vice-versa, in nearly all regards. Having seen ... from something of a distance, but reasonably well despite that distance, I think girls ... I don’t know about it in general, but, certainly, this large bunch of girls has a ... perhaps more sane way to live, with care and ... openness seeming to be their hallmarks. When Brit spent a lot of time with Cera at our house, they seemed to live the same way. They slept in the same bed together, they were ... tactile a lot, one giving the other a soft touch on a hand or shoulder, and they obviously took care for each other. I cannot imagine my early-teen years’ friends acting in that manner. I see these girls here in a situation in which they’re lounging in a hot tub with many or most of their parents and Civia’s got an arm around Heather, Kim has a hand on Katie’s shoulder, and Liya’s got her head ... or did ... on Meka’s shoulder. They’re not afraid to express what they feel for their friends, not even in front of their parents. I can’t see boys doing this, but it seems to me a better way. And if they do the same things when they have fewer square inches covered by clothing than they do now, is that really different? Is that really objectionable?”

Alicia wrapped both her arms around her husband and laid an intense, but brief, kiss on his lips, then laid her head on his right shoulder.

Emma stated, “You’ve got a real winner, Alicia.”

“It took me two tries, but, yes, I do. And that’s not a dig at you.”

Kalina summarized, “Obviously, the local parents could not object to how their girls ... and the girls that their girls ... have impacted ... live. I find it ... heartening that Richard made the clearest and most well-stated defense of how ... all of our girls prefer to live. Steph and Matt, do either of you have anything to add.”

Matt replied, “I doubt that I could have expressed my views even as well as Richard did, much less better, but I agree with him. Currently among us parents, Steph and I have the only family of mixed-sex children, so it’s more difficult for us. If we were positive that neither would take advantage of the other, I’m not sure we’d object to those two living naked, so long as certain ... household rules were followed. That is, they weren’t permitted to be naked in quote-unquote public areas of the house, and they respected both each other and us. Oh, I can imagine some quibbling little additional rules, but those would be the only major rules that I’d require to be followed. Besides, Steph and I have something of a clothing-optional policy for our bedroom, presumably like many other couples. And that brings up the truly critical facet of ... these various girls living naked. They ... and that includes our niece-daughter and our son ... have proven themselves responsible. With those two spending days and nights with all those other girls at the J, one can imagine the sorts of things that could take place if even a few were irresponsible.”

Emma said, “Thanks, Richard and Matt. You’ve both made important points, and they’re points with which I’m in agreement. I was impressed with the ... Go5 last summer when I was part of a crew remodeling portions of this very house. With no parents home during the day, they made dinner for the whole family, cleaned, and did all manner of very responsible things when left to their own devices. I admit that at that age, I would have taken advantage of the situation and done things of which my parents would not have been happy or proud. That’s why I’ve given Maren carte blanche to be with them whenever the opportunity arises. All she needs to do is tell me where she is. I trust those girls more, even, than many adults and I’ve discovered through conversations with them that Kalina and Jeff feel something similar about those girls. They certainly trust them, and that trust was obvious during the discussion we had with our daughters about those girls living naked. It seems to me that the parents here agree ... or, at least, don’t disagree with how those girls live, so our decision may be a simple one. Thanks, all, for your input.”