Having a friend who enjoyed being clothes-free as much as they did opened new worlds to both Kayla and Rachel. They spent a lot of time together, much of it nude, often spending hours out at the swimming hole, or just exploring the woods in the nude, having fun, talking about girl things while sealing down a friendship that had already been pretty close.

While they really enjoyed their running, Rachel’s father Kent told them that maybe they were running a little too much. He suggested that they try to do a little more bike riding and swimming – there was a mini-triathlon coming that they might like to enter. It would involve a one-kilometer swim done in a pool rather than open water, a 25k bike ride, and a ten-kilometer run. They agreed that it sounded like fun. As soon as school was out they started riding their bikes to the pool in Hawthorne three days a week, sometimes going or coming the long way around to explore new places, and having a swimming instructor coach them in long-distance racing. Mr. Bacon coached them some on bike racing, and they put on a lot of miles that way too. Both the girls were fair swimmers, although not racers; as time passed, they improved quickly, though they still had plenty of fun just splashing around and sunbathing in the pool in back of Kayla’s house.

They didn’t spend all their time together, or even most of it. Kayla still spent a lot of time with Megan, Shannon, and Bree, her friends from school, riding bikes, hanging out, and talking girl talk. Megan’s family got a new pool that summer, larger than Kayla’s family’s, so while there was a lot of pool time relatively little was spent at Kayla’s with them. Since she had a clothes-free friend now, Kayla decided not to push the skinny-dipping issue with her friends from her own school, but decided to see if it could come about naturally.

Kayla also spent a lot of time out in the woods with Walden after Mrs. Hephner gave her the book. The librarian had been right – it was a tough read, partly because of the language, but more because Thoreau dropped ideas on every page that demanded serious thought. Some were easy to grasp, and she did so intuitively; others demanded a lot of thought to figure out what he was talking about, and often Kayla decided to put aside some of those questions for study some other time.

One of the mysteries that Kayla tried to unravel was why Mrs. Hephner had called Thoreau a dangerous man and Walden a dangerous book. At one level, it was just about a man who had turned his back on the complexities of his life to try to lead a simple life. Kayla reflected many times on the idea that if Thoreau had thought things were complicated and fast in his day, then he would never have been able to comprehend the vaster and more complex lives that had evolved over more than a century and a half. How much worse it was today!

At times, Thoreau set off on a well-warmed rant about things that Kayla could scarcely understand. Sometimes they were interesting, and sometimes they baffled her. He clearly was a man very close to nature and learned much from its simplicity. Thoreau was a naturalist, and Kayla often wondered if he’d been a naturist – or would have been today. She had little doubt that he’d gone swimming nude in the inviting waters of the pond in all but the coldest conditions. Though the concept of “naturist” was still a century from being invented when the hermit of Walden went to live in the woods, she thought from his writing that he might have identified with it had he been alive in these days.

Walden was not a book to race through, and she didn’t hurry through it; her first reading took her more than a month, sometimes only two or three thought-provoking pages at a time. Once she completed it she immediately sat down to do a re-read, most often in her quiet spot in the woods behind her house, wearing only the clothes she was born with. Several times when she was babysitting Tyler and Cameron, she talked with Dave about what she’d been learning from the book. Sometimes his answers left her with more questions than when she’d started.

When she finally got back to Mrs. Hephner to thank her for the book, the librarian smiled and asked, “He spoke to you then?” Kayla told her that she’d gotten much more out of the book than she could have dreamed, and asked if there were something else the library might have along that line that would be as interesting. Mrs. Hephner told her that there really wasn’t much else anywhere that was anything like Walden, but if she wanted to explore ideas and nature there was a lot in the library that would be interesting, and suggested several books. Some Kayla didn’t get into that much, but others were almost as interesting and thought provoking in different ways.

One afternoon as she lay out on her blanket on the hill behind the woods reading Leaves of Grass the thought struck her that this was really an adult book – not “adult” meaning “dirty” but meaning “grown-up.” This wasn’t a young adult book, something easy to read for the sake of reading. It was hard to read because it made you think about things in an adult way. Could it be that was a little of what Mrs. Hephner had meant when she called Walden “dangerous”? That it made someone want to think for themselves?

Her mind ranged back to the discussion with Dave and Shae a couple of months before. Could it be that those people who wanted to run other people’s lives didn’t want those people thinking for themselves? When she put it in those terms, it was pretty obvious. People like that would consider something that caused people to think for themselves dangerous, wouldn’t they? Of course! People like that wouldn’t want to encourage independent thinking, the kind of taking things out and re-examining them that Thoreau had talked about all the way through Walden. They wouldn’t encourage things like nudism, since that would involve someone thinking about and rejecting the existing standards and maybe change the way things were now. Maybe Mrs. Hephner had been right after all …

Both Dave and Shae had talked of learning about Thoreau and the other people on the list in college. Neither of Kayla’s parents had been to college; her mother said she might take some courses sometime after she and JJ were grown up, but it sounded halfhearted. Her father had never had any interest in it at all. But it was clear that there were things there that weren’t taught in high school; important things.

Up until that point, Kayla had never thought much about going to college when she got out of high school. Her plans had been vague, mostly that she wanted to be like her mother, get a job, get married, raise a family. But that probably wouldn’t include the need to think about bigger ideas, or do bigger things. Being a clerk in a convenience store was all right, as far as that went, or running a little country weekly newspaper. Maybe she could do bigger things, dream bigger dreams … what could she do? What could she study? If there were anything she’d learned from these grown-up books, there was a whole world of ideas out there that she’d never dreamed about.

It really wasn’t something that she wanted to bounce off her mother or her father, since neither of them had any experience with college. Vicky had four years of college, and had complained that she hadn’t gotten a lot out of it. But she had a degree in business, which was important in putting both the knife shop and the deal on the newspaper together. She also had a minor in fine arts, which she applied to engraving and sculpture and scrimshaw on knives. Her skill at that was so good it could scarcely be believed.

Maybe it was a good idea to do a little more thinking about college, talking with people about it, thinking about what she wanted to do. Dave and Shae had been responsible for this whole line of thought, back there a couple months ago when they talked so intelligently about people she’d never heard of, or barely heard of – people who had such interesting ideas, interesting thoughts, people who had started to open doors for her. Maybe it would be a good idea to talk about college with them some time.

Leaves of Grass went unread for another couple of hours as she considered some of the possibilities swirling around in her mind, occasionally stopping to gel a little, then swirling around some more. Eventually, it was only thirst and an empty water bottle that made her realize that the afternoon was wearing on. Reluctantly, she got up, folded her blanket, and put it in her backpack along with the book and a few other things she had with her. Then she headed back toward the house, which now seemed to sit in a much smaller town in a much larger, more complex and more interesting world than it had been a few hours before.

The ideas were still swirling around in her head a couple days later when she and Rachel had just gotten back from riding their bikes to the pool at Hawthorne and back. They were lying out in the back yard, nude of course, with the idea of taking in the sun and occasionally taking a lazy dip in the pool to cool off, playing and goofing around then lying on the deck again to dry off, like they often did. How much simpler it was to not wear clothes sometimes – there was no sitting around in a damp, uncomfortable swimsuit. The two of them had deep, dark tans by now. There was no evidence of tan lines in spite of having to wear shorts when running or biking, or swimsuits when doing their training at the pool in Hawthorne – about the only time they bothered to wear them, anymore.

They were mostly lying there, talking about nothing in particular, when all of a sudden a woman’s cheerful voice rang out: “Hey, you two! When did the nudist camp open?”

Startled by the voice, both of them turned to see where it came from – to see Shae’s head standing well over the six-foot-high fence gate to the pool area – there weren’t many women who could look over that fence, of course. Kayla knew that things had changed for Dave and Shae in the last couple of weeks, and now they weren’t planning on moving back to New York at all.

“Oh, hi, Shae,” Kayla replied as she got over her surprise. “We like to lay out in the sun without our swimsuits sometimes.”

“More than sometimes, if what your mother has been telling me is right,” the big woman smiled. “Mind if I join you? Your mom said it was all right if I wanted to come over and use the pool sometime.”

“Sure, come on in,” Kayla said, wondering if maybe she and Rachel should find something to cover up with, since they had a guest, and an adult guest at that. The problem was that the only possibilities were in the house. Hopefully, she added, “I hope you don’t mind how we’re dressed.”

“No problem for me,” Shae smiled as she came in the gate. They could see now that she was wearing a very tiny bikini and a light jacket. She was obviously very pregnant – about seven months now, if Kayla remembered correctly what her mother had said. “In fact, if you don’t mind, I’ll join you.”

“Fine with me,” Kayla said, and Rachel agreed.

Shae set down a small bag in a lounge chair, took off the thin jacket, and in only a few barely noticeable moves had the black string bikini off, as Kayla introduced Shae and Rachel. “Oh, I remember you,” Shae told the redhead. “You were the girl Kayla finished neck and neck with at the cross country meet last fall! I remember the great sportsmanship you two showed to each other. Or were you already friends?”

“We’d never even spoken to each other until just before you saw us,” Kayla explained, “but we’ve become good friends. We train together and run together a lot.”

“I remember you,” Rachel said. “Kayla told me that you were a basketball star years ago.”

“I was on some winning teams for a few years there,” Shae grinned as she bent over to unbuckle the strappy heels she wore, then added, “Tell me, how do the two of you decide who wins what race?”

“We have a very simple system,” Rachel grinned. “Whoever happens to be the fastest that day wins.”

“Can’t think of a fairer way than that,” Shae laughed as she stood up. Kayla was trying not to be obvious about it, but Shae was the first naked pregnant woman she had ever seen, except for pictures in books. Though she was trying not to stare, she couldn’t help but notice that her abdomen was rounded way out with the baby inside her that would be born before long. The lines and curves of her body were still smooth and natural, but somehow in a different way than the woman she’d first met the year before. She moved with grace and efficiency; somehow it struck Kayla that she looked beautiful, natural and normal. Kayla remembered seeing women who seemed to be ashamed of being pregnant and tried to hide it, but somehow Shae’s looks and attitude made it seem like a wonderful and joyous part of a woman’s life.

Shae slipped gracefully into the pool, swam gently across it, and then turned to float with her head out of water. “Oh, that feels good!” she said. “The baby has me walking a little off balance, and it’s causing my back to hurt.”

Apparently, Rachel had been watching too. “I hope I haven’t been staring at you too much,” she said. “I’ve never seen a pregnant woman nude until now. I’m sorry and I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable.”

Before Shae could reply, Kayla added, “I’m guilty of that too, Shae, and for the same reason. I apologize.”

“Oh, I picked up on the two of you checking me out,” Shae grinned. “But I’m used to being looked at and it doesn’t bother me in the least. I’m surprised that neither of you has seen anyone nude who is pregnant. Didn’t you ever see your mothers nude when they were pregnant? Well, I guess you couldn’t have Kayla, you were way little when JJ was born. How about you, Rachel?”

“No, I’m the baby of the family,” Rachel grinned. “My dad always says they were afraid to have another baby since it might turn out like me.”

Shae smiled at them. “Well, I’m glad you’re getting a glimpse of what this aspect of womanhood is like. Being pregnant is normal and natural. My body looks like it’s supposed to look – it’s nothing to be ashamed of or hidden away. I’m not the least bit reluctant about anyone seeing me with the baby that’s miraculously growing inside of me.”

“The funny thing is,” Rachel commented, “It seems like most women when they’re pregnant hate the way they look or are ashamed of it and that spills over into the attitude they have about it.”

“Sad, but true,” Shae answered, pulling herself effortlessly up onto the pool deck, then swinging around to sit facing the two girls in the pool. “Oh, every now and then somebody famous will show up on a magazine cover or someplace touting their pregnancy and trying to stir up some publicity, but by and large, most women think it’s something to be ashamed of. Why do you think that’s so?”

Rachel replied, “I guess they think they look fat.”

“And so what do they do about it?”

“They wear maternity clothes that try to hide or play down the fact that they’re pregnant,” Rachel shrugged.

“And does it work?”

“No, not really,” Rachel answered. “It just makes them look … fat.”

“Right,” Shae answered. “Exactly the way they don’t want to look. They lose sight of the fact that pregnancy is a perfectly normal condition. Not only that, they also miss out on the joy and anticipation that they should be having.”

Shae abruptly paused for a second as she looked down at her abdomen. She was again leaning back on her elbows as she remained seated on the step into the pool. Without looking up, she said “Speaking of which … look.” After a pause, she asked, “Do you see it?”

“See what?” Rachel asked. They were both looking where Shae was looking, but didn’t see whatever it was she was talking about.

“Watch right here,” Shae said, now pointing to an area of her abdomen just off to the side nearest Kayla.

Rachel came over closer to Shae so that she could see where Shae was pointing. They both saw it at the same time: a slight bulge came up and then went down. “There! Did you see it? Did you see the baby move?” Shae asked.

About that time it happened again. Kayla and Rachel both said they saw it as they stared in amazement, hoping that it would happen again. Then suddenly the bulge came out again and moved several inches across Shae’s belly before going back down.

“Oh!” Shae exclaimed in surprise. “That was major.”

“This is so totally amazing,” Rachel said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I mean I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never seen it. Does this happen all the time?”

“Oh, maybe several times a day,” Shae answered. “He or she gets kind of busy in there sometimes. I think maybe the kid’s going to be a gymnast or something!”

“So amazing,” Rachel said again as she watched to see if the baby would move again.

Shae said to Rachel, “Here – feel right here” as she pointed to a certain place on her abdomen. Unsure whether she really should or not, Rachel slowly placed her hand on Shae’s abdomen.

“Here,” Shae said as she took Rachel’s hand and moved it slightly and then pressed down on it a little bit.

A sudden look of surprise came over Rachel’s face and she exclaimed, “Oh my … oh my … oh my … it’s right there … it’s just right there. Kayla … right here! The baby is right here!” Tears of joy and amazement filled her eyes as she felt the miracle of a new life forming and awakening. “What is that?”

Shae replied smiling in understanding, “It’s probably an elbow or a heel.”

“Kayla, here, feel the baby!” Rachel said overflowing with enthusiasm.

Kayla put her hand where Rachel’s had been. Shae took her hand and pressed it more firmly against her like she had done with Rachel. She could feel the firmness of some part of the baby just like Rachel had. And just like Rachel, Kayla was totally awestruck with the realization that here was a life being created.

“This is so amazing,” Kayla said. “I mean, even though I knew babies moved around inside before they were born, actually being so close to it – actually seeing and feeling it like this is just … it makes it so much more real!”

Rachel was still standing in the water, but now leaning against the side of the pool. She had her hand on her own abdomen as she said, “I just can’t imagine what that must feel like.”

“Well, my advice is, ‘Don’t find out until you’re married and ready for it,” Shae admonished.

Both girls agreed with her. By now, Kayla had returned to where she’d been standing before and said, “Well, Shae, we apologized for staring at you, but then we proceeded to put our hands all over you. I’m sorry – that must have made you uncomfortable for sure.”

“No,” Shae replied. “I have Dave and the boys do it whenever they’re around and the baby decides to put on a gymnastics routine. It’s OK. I have no secrets. And besides, it would seem that you two need some practical education on what being pregnant is like. I’m glad I can be an example for you. Hey, I don’t need to tell you about the birds and the bees, too, do I?”

“Well, uh, I guess not,” Rachel giggled. “At least not the general stuff. Seeing and feeling things like the baby kick, well, that’s pretty new. It shows us there’s always something to learn.”

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